By Ryan Cloutier, News Staff and Kristen McCleary, News Correspondent
The Huskies were back on the race course and podium last week, taking a sweeping victory in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Championship and a second-place finish at the Beanpot Championship.
The first varsity-eight, second varsity-eight and varsity-four boats all finished in first place at the CAA championship April 23 and 24 at Sandy Run Regional Park Va., ahead of competition from Old Dominion, Buffalo, Drexel, George Mason and Delaware.
Four Northeastern rowers, seniors Laura Carroll, Jenifer Forbes, Veronica Townsend and junior Greta Haselmann were named to the All-Conference Team. Head coach Joe Wilhelm was named CAA Coach of the Year.
“I look at that award as more of a team award than anything else,” Wilhelm said. “There’s a lot of people that had to do their job to have that happen, first and foremost the athletes, my assistant coaches, the trainers, and such.”
The Huskies followed up with a second-place finish in the Beanpot Championship at home on the Charles River April 30.
Radcliffe was the main competition, taking first place to the Huskies’ second in the first varsity-eight race, second-varsity eight race and varsity-four race.
“[The team] felt really good after the race. Radcliffe is always a big competitor,” freshman rower Elise Miner said.
The undefeated varsity three took first place, beating Radcliffe by a little less than two seconds.
“We felt really good after Beanpot, it was a good affirmation as to what we’re been working for,” Miner said. “Radcliffe is always a big competitor but, just like Miranda [Assistant Coach Miranda Paris] tells us before every race, we’re just going to do our best and race our race.”
The Huskies resume action tomorrow in Camden, N.J., for the Eastern Association of Women’s Rowing Colleges (EAWRC) Sprint Championships.
“[Sprints] is a tough place to row,” Wilhelm said. “Every one of the top teams on the east coast will be there and our goal is to have every crew we have race there be in the grand final – that’s what we’re trying to do.”
The men’s rowing varsity boat suffered a series of disappointing losses heading into the Eastern Spraints this weekend but the freshmen are shining, recording five wins for the season.
Despite losses against the University of Pennsylvania, Georgetown and Harvard before the home contest against Holy Cross, the varsity boat managed a victory by almost 12 seconds.
The first freshmen boat trounced the Crusaders by nearly 20 seconds. The first freshmen crew’s only defeat since losing to Boston University during the Arlett Cup April 9 came from a first-seeded Harvard team.
The varsity Huskies were behind by two seats in the first 500 meters, but the boat caught up by the 750-meter mark, and by 1,500 meters the Huskies had pulled ahead by a length to secure victory. The Huskies’ boat picked up another length over the final 500 meters to finish at 6:16.6 while the Holy Cross boat finished at 6:28.4.
“The Holy Cross scrimmage was good for the boat,” said senior Lou Harwood, captain of the men’s rowing team. “We finally put together a decent race and beat the other crew by over 10 seconds.”
The crew lost a week before to Harvard by nearly 15 seconds on the Charles River, as the Crimson pulled ahead early, leading by a length in the first 500 meters.
Harvard, which was ranked first in the weekly Eastern Sprints poll going into the race, proceeded to coast ahead to an easy two-length lead over the rest of the 2,000-meter course.
“Harvard is one of the top schools in the country,” Harwood said. “We knew going into that race that it would be tough. During the race we did a good job of keeping our focus within the boat and not get discouraged by the gap.”
The fourth-seeded freshmen put up a heated battle against first-seeded Harvard, but the Crimson prevailed by 1.2 seconds.
“On the freshmen side the guys raced very hard,” associate head coach Ted Benford said. “they gave away a little too much room in the first 500 .”
The Huskies faced a double-header on April 23 in Philadelphia, where the varsity boat suffered two losses. The first race against Georgetown was even through 1,200 meters, when the Hoyas took a four-seat lead, which they built upon until the end. Georgetown finished at 5:54.1 while the Huskies limped across the finish line over a minute later, recording its finish at 7:06.1.
Later that day Northeastern lost to the University of Pennsylvania by less than 2 seconds.
“The Penn-Georgetown double-header was a tough day,” Harwood said. “We were still working on a complete race, and worked on different parts of the race during both races.”
Despite the disappointing varsity losses, the freshmen crew defeated both teams in easy victories on the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia. The first freshmen boat won both teams, recording their fourth and fifth wins of the season.
The next contest is May 15, in Worcester for the Eastern Sprints Regatta.
“We’ve really been training for the Eastern Sprints,” Benford said. “I think performing well at the Eastern Sprints would be a great way to cap a strong season [for the freshmen].”
