By Brian Pivonka
Heading into the 21st annual Rowlands Cup, the Northeastern Women’s Crew team had a strong game plan to ensure success. However, planning and executing are two different things.
After being in second most of the way, the Huskies faded down the stretch and ended up taking third place behind Radcliffe and Boston College.
“We had a pretty aggressive race plan,” said Northeastern coach Joe Wilhelm. “We had a good start; we got into the body with good speed but didn’t maintain it. Boston College got us in the last 10 strokes. I think our pace was a little too challenging for now.”
Senior co-captain Amy Lawrence agreed with her coach’s assessment.
“I felt it was a good race,” said Lawrence. “We executed our plan well. But it’s the beginning of the season and we weren’t 100 percent yet.”
Radcliffe, the defending national champions, won the race handily with a time of 6:56.1. But the real race was between Boston College and Northeastern, with Boston College overtaking the Huskies in the final strokes to come in second with a time of 7:07.0. The Huskies finished with a time of 7:08.5.
“Radcliffe is a very good crew team,” Wilhelm said. “They lost some people, but they looked strong. Boston College is a newer program and they get faster every year. We started scheduling them three years ago and they got closer each year. This year they beat us.”
The 2nd Varsity race was dominated by Radcliffe, winning by 14 seconds. The Eagles outlasted the Huskies by seven seconds.
Radcliffe completed the sweep by taking the Novice race by four seconds over the Huskies. Boston College lagged behind, coming in third by 16 seconds.
The Huskies’ record the past few years have bounced between very good, and very bad. The Huskies had records of 9-3 in 2000, 3-6 in 2001, 13-3 in 2002 and 4-9 in 2003. But coach Wilhelm hopes for a turnaround year.
Lead by seniors Katie Tobin, Jennifer Carter and Lawrence, the Huskies have an experience anchor for their varsity boat. But Wilhelm cautioned that individuals are less important than team work when it comes to team success.
“In rowing, I don’t think you look for one or two people to step up. It’s got to be a team effort. In football, you may have 11 people doing 11 different things at the same time. In rowing you need eight people doing the same thing at the same time.”
One hindrance for the Huskies will be their conference, one of the strongest in the nation.
“We are in, without question, the toughest conference in the country,” Wilhelm said. “Every year out of our league you’ll see five or six teams who will make a run for the national championship. There’s 16 boats invited (to Nationals) and five or six of them will be out of our conference. Our goal is come in the top six at Eastern Sprints. But you have to work hard all season to get there.”
However, Lawrence wanted to raise the bar for her team.
“Every year we expect to do well and get a medal at Eastern Sprints,” she said. “It gets us ready for Nationals.”
The Huskies’ next races are on Saturday at the Charles River against Dartmouth, Buffalo and Boston College.
