Regatta Notes | Schedule
ON TAP: A total of 16 schools will be competing for the national title at the 2006 NCAA Women’s Rowing Championship in West Windsor, N.J., from May 26-28. The BU openweights earned an at-large bid, thus meaning that the Terriers will compete in the Division I varsity eight race only. Hosted jointly by the Princeton National Rowing Association and Rutgers University, the tournament offers 12 team bids, which include varsity eight, second varsity eight and varsity four boats, along with four varsity eight at-large bids. Joining the Terriers with at-large bids will be Minnesota, Southern California and UCLA, while the 12 team bids went to Brown, California, Michigan State, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Princeton, Stanford, Tennessee, Washington, Washington State, Wisconsin and Yale.
CHAMPIONSHIP FORMAT: The Terriers will row in one of three elimination heats on Friday morning (8:00, 8:15, 8:30 a.m.). The top three finishers from each heat will advance directly to the Saturday semifinals. The remaining seven boats will row in the repechage on Friday at 4:00 p.m. The top three repechage boats will finish out the 12-team field for the semis, while the bottom four finishers will race on Saturday in the 13-16 place race at 11:00 a.m. The 12 crews that advance to the semifinals with race in two heats (10:30, 10:45 a.m.) on Saturday, with the top three of each heat going on to the Grand Final at noon on Sunday and the bottom three of each group headed for the Petite Final at 11:45 a.m. on Sunday.
VS. OPPONENTS: Earlier this year, the Terriers rowed at least once against sixth of their NCAA opponents. Below is how they fared.
California: BU rowed against California to open the spring season on March 25 in Redwood Shores, Calif. The Terriers came up second with a time of 7:37.4, behind California’s time of 7:25.4.
Washington: The Terriers also saw action against Washington on March 25 to open the spring season, finishing in 7:29.9, compared to Washington’s 7:22.4.
Yale: BU faced Yale twice, first during the regular season on April 8, when the Bulldogs rowed to the win in 6:13.6, ahead of BU’s time of 6:27.5. The crews also met in the Grand Final of the Eastern Sprints, where Yale placed third in 7:01.3 and BU finished fourth in 7:05.7.
Brown: BU is the most seasoned versus Brown, having rowed against the Bears three times. The first was on April 15, when Brown won in 6:56.4, compared to BU’s 7:08.7. They then met in the morning heat of the Eastern Sprints, where Brown came in first in 7:04.5 and BU was second in 7:13.9. Finally, they again shared the water for the Grand Final of the Sprints, with Brown coming up second in 6:58.1 and BU placing fourth in 7:05.7.
Minnesota: BU fell to Minnesota on April 22, clocking in at 6:16.8, behind the Gophers’ time of 6:11.7.
Princeton: BU placed fourth in the Grand Final of the Eastern Sprints with a time of 7:05.7, behind first-place Princeton's time of 6:50.1.
BU IN THE NCAAs: BU will be making its sixth NCAA appearance in the 10 years since the inception of the championship (1997), and first since 2003. The Terriers’ at-large selection is the third in program history (1998, 2003 and 2006), while BU also received a team bid three times (1999, 2000 and 2001). Below is how BU fared in the varsity eight race through the years.
2003 - 14th
2001 - 9th
2000 - 7th
1999 - 8th
1998 - 13th
SIXTH FOR HATTON: This marks the sixth NCAAs that BU Head Coach Holly Hatton will be coaching the Terrier varsity boat, as she is in her 10th year as head coach of the BU squad.
A LOOK AT THE VARSITY: The Terrier varsity eight boat ended the regular spring season with a 6-7 record, posting wins over Syracuse, George Washington, Texas, UMass, Kansas and then No. 13 Radcliffe. Meanwhile, five of the seven losses came to crews that were ranked among the nation’s top 20 at the time of the race, including No. 10 Washington, No. 2 California, No. 3 Yale, No. 10 Brown and No. 17 Minnesota. The only unranked teams to come out victorious over the Terriers were Oregon State during the first weekend of spring racing and Dartmouth, which now holds a No. 19 national ranking. Then, in the Eastern Sprints, BU earned its best varsity eight finish in 13 years, coming up with fourth place behind Princeton, Brown and Yale, which each earned an NCAA team bid. The current line-up in the BU boat boasts four seniors (two co-captains), two juniors and three sophomores.
TERRIERS HONORED: Holly Hatton, 10-year head coach of the BU women’s rowing team, was named the Division I New England Coach of the Year for the 2005-06 season, as selected by the Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association. In addition, junior Lauren Priest and sophomore Elene Brett-Evans were selected as National Scholar Athletes, while junior Meghan Neufeld and senior Amanda Milborne were selected to the All-New England First Team and Brett-Evans made the second team.
TROPHIES WON: The Terrier contingency won four trophies/cups throughout the 2006 spring season. The first was the Kittell Cup, for winning the regatta with Syracuse on March 26. The second was the Virginia Playfair Trophy, for overcoming Navy (April 1) and George Washington (May 14). The third was the Allen-DeWolfe Trophy for the win against Radcliffe on April 29, and the fourth was the Women’s Council Cup for the victory over Northeastern on May 14.
EAWRC CREW OF THE WEEK: BU was named the EAWRC Crew of the Week by the ECAC on May 1 after closing out the regular season versus then No. 13 Radcliffe on April 29. Unranked at the time, the Terriers came back from a length deficit at the halfway point to post a 1.6-second victory over Radcliffe to capture the Allen-DeWolfe Trophy for just the second time since its inception in 1998, and the first time since 2001.
LOCAL FLAIR: Terrier Head Coach Holly Hatton was born in Philadephia, Pa., and graduated from the Moore College of Art & design in 1970.
GRADUATION WITH A TWIST: The five senior members of the team (Emily Brown, Megan Keyes, Amanda Milborne, Tess Miller and Cydney Nakama) forewent BU’s traditional graduation ceremony on May 14 due to the Eastern Sprints. Instead, the five were part of a special ceremony held in Camden, N.J., with Boston University Assistant Provost Michael Field. Four of the five are in the NCAA line-up, while Megan Keyes is an alternate.
1ST VARSITY 8 LINE-UP:
Cox Cydney Nakama (Sr.)
Stroke Meghan Neufeld (Jr.)
7 Amanda Milborne (Sr.)
6 Lauren Priest (Jr.)
5 Tess Miller (Sr.)
4 Elene Brett-Evans (So.)
3 Emily Brown (Sr.)
2 Kaitlin Murphy (So.)
Bow Veronika Karlsson (So.)
