Men's Crew Rows To Best Finish Ever At Sprints
May 15, 2005 | Men's Rowing
WORCESTER, MA - The Terrier men's heavyweight crew, which had been seeded ninth entering the competition, enjoyed its best finish ever at the Eastern Sprints on Sunday, May 15, as the crew took a fourth-place finish in the Grand Final.
What's more, the Terrier varsity, second varsity, and freshmen eights finished with a combined 24 points to finish fourth in the competition for the Rowe Cup, which is presented to the crew with the best overall performances in the three major events.
With their fourth-place finish in the heavyweight race, a fifth in the freshmen eights, and an eighth in the second varsity event, the Terriers had their best overall finish ever in the 60-year history of the Sprints. Their 24-point total trailed only Princeton's 36, Harvard's 34, and Northeastern's 28. In all, 13 crews trailed the Terriers including Brown (23), Yale (22), Navy (19), Cornell, and Wisconsin (14 each), Pennsylvania (13), and Dartmouth (8).
"I am very excited with how we rowed," said head coach Rodney Pratt. "No one expected us to do this well even though we have had a promising season."
In the heavyweight race, the Terriers, who finished the spring regatta season with a 5-3 record, served notice in the morning heat that they would be a force in the afternoon's Grand Final. The Terriers were pitted against third-seeded Northeastern, fourth-seeded Navy, 15th-seeded Wisconsin, 15th seeded Georgetown, and 16th-seeded MIT. Only two of the crews would advance to the Grand Finals so the Terriers needed to upset either Northeastern or Navy.
"We were down seven seats to Navy halfway through the race," recalled Pratt. "We then put on a strong third 500 and rowed through Navy."
The Terriers covered the 2,000-meter Lake Quinsigamond course in a fast 5:36.3, which was only a second slower than heat-leading Northeastern (5:35.2). Navy finished third in 5:37.8, followed in order by Wisconsin (5:4.58), Georgetown (5:47.6), and MIT (5:59.3).
In the afternoon heat, the Terriers rowed in 5:40.8 as they finished behind Harvard (5:29.5), Princeton (5:30.7), and Northeastern (5:35.8). What pleased Pratt is the Terriers finished ahead of Brown (5:41.3) and Yale (5:46.1).
Just eight days earlier, rowing in rain, cold, and choppy Charles River water, the Terriers lost their final spring regatta to Brown by 10 seconds-5:50.6 to 6:00.3.
"Hopefully, this will earn us one of the eight seeds for the IRAs," Pratt said of the regatta that will be held on the Cooper River in Camden, NJ from June 2-4. "We still have something to prove."
While the varsity boat accounted for 11 of the team's 24 points for the Rowe Cup, the freshmen chipped in with eight points with their fifth-place finish, and the second varsity accounted for five points with their eighth-place finish.
The freshmen entered the Sprints seeded sixth, and, in the morning racing, competed against top-seeded Brown, seventh-seeded Navy, 12th-seeded Rutgers, and 13th-seeded Cornell. The finals proved the seeding correct as both Brown (5:54.6) and B.U. (5:56.9) advanced to the afternoon's Grand Final.
There, the Terriers finished fifth in 5:45.7 behind champion Brown's 5:41.8, Princeton's 5:42.8, Harvard's 5:43.3, and Penn's 5:45.4. Northeastern was sixth in 5:46.6.
The second varsity was seeded eighth and found themselves rowing against second-seeded Cornell, fifth-seeded Northeastern, 11th- seeded Syracuse, and 14th-seeded Georgetown in the morning heat. The Terriers finished third with a time of 5:53.2, just behind Cornell (5:49.4) and Northeastern (5:51.0). Their place put them in the Petite Finals which they won in 5:46.2. Normally winning the Petites would have given the Terriers a seventh-place finish. However, seven boats, and not the normal six, rowed in the Grand Finals. The reason is that in the morning heat Navy and Wisconsin finished in a dead heat-5:48.9 resulting in seven, and not six boats advancing to the finals.
The Terriers had a fourth boat entered-the second freshmen, but their final placement did not factor in the point total for the Rowe Cup. Seeded fifth, they finished sixth overall.
In the morning heat, they joined top-seeded Brown, fourth-seeded Rutgers, eighth-seeded Georgetown, and ninth-seeded MIT. The Terriers finished third with a time of 6:18.1, while Brown was first in 6:08.2 and Rutgers was second in 6:15.7. All three advanced to the Grand Final where Brown won the event in 5:53.7. Harvard was second in 5:59.3 followed by Navy (6:03.3), Syracuse (6:06.6), B.U. (6:09.9), and Rutgers (6:143.1).
