May 18, 2008

Full Results

WORCESTER, Mass. - The Boston University men's varsity eight had its highest finish at the EARC Sprints since 2005 on Sunday when the Terriers placed fifth in the Petite Final on Lake Quinsigamond. Both the varsity eight and the second freshman eight placed higher than their seedings.

"I think the varsity is rowing really well," said head coach Rodney Pratt. "They've only been rowing together [in this lineup] for four days. It was a tight race, and they're excited about what they can do. We're moving up and we have two weeks to prepare now for the IRA."

In the morning heats, the Terrier 3V finished fifth in 6:15.99 and did not advance to the afternoon's final. The first freshman eight finished sixth to go to the Third Level Final, while the JV eight placed third and the varsity crossed the line fourth to each go to the Petites for their respective races.

The JV began its morning race in third, behind hard-charging Brown and Northeastern crews. NU had just a two-seat lead on the Terriers at the 500m mark. The Terriers and Dartmouth battled for third with BU getting the edge with 800 meters gone. Boston University had a 1/2 length lead on Navy in the third 500 meters, but the Midshipmen stayed right with the Terriers until the finish when BU claimed a 1/2 length victory.

The varsity had a good start, even with Brown and Columbia at the 500m, in its first race. Bruno and the Lions pulled ahead by 750 meters, leaving the Terriers to vie with Syracuse for third. The Terriers were up on SU at the 1000m, but it became a see-saw battle in the third 500m in which the Orange narrowly slid into third place by the finish.

In the afternoon's racing, the freshman eight was in first place at the 500m mark, rowing a 39 and had a couple of seats on George Washington with 1250 meters to go. GW made a charge, but the Terriers maintained a stroke rating of 36 to hold off the Colonials. However, GW was persistent and made a push at the halfway point; the Colonials and Georgetown moved past BU as the Terriers slipped to a fourth-place finish.

The second freshman race was a finals-only contest where BU placed sixth, one spot ahead of their seventh seed coming into the regatta. In the JV eight, BU got off the line last at the start but was level with Columbia and Georgetown for third by the second 500m. The Terriers briefly held fourth place before Georgetown claimed the spot in the third 500m. Boston University and the Hoyas were neck and neck in the last 200m, but Georgetown crossed first.

The varsity got off to a solid start in the third-to-last race of the day, fighting a slight chop that may have caused Georgetown to catch a crab at the line and trail for the remainder of the race. BU, Navy and Harvard moved ahead to start, followed by Cornell, Syracuse and the Hoyas at 350m. But by 750m, Cornell and Navy made a push to get ahead as BU slipped a little. Navy had a five-seat lead on Cornell, who had a three-seat lead on BU at the halfway mark. In the third 500m, Harvard, BU and Syracuse were even and challenging Cornell for the second spot. However, by 1500m Navy and Harvard were out in front, and BU had fallen to fifth.

Results courtesy of row2k.com