By Jessica Geller, deputy sports editor

The Northeastern women’s rowing team competed in the Foot of the Charles Regatta (FOCR) against five other universities on Saturday, finishing with the varsity eight boat victory. The University of Rhode Island (URI), Boston University (BU), Boston College (BC), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard University competed against Northeastern to close out the fall season.

The varsity eight race is 6,000 meters – (a little less than four miles) – from MIT to the Head of the Charles Regatta (HOCR) finish line near Herter Park. Each school can enter a maximum of three boats with eight competitors each. The A boat has the best eight rowers, the B boat the second best eight and the C boat includes the next eight best rowers. All A, B and C boats compete in the same varsity eight race. Northeastern’s A boat completed the distance in 20:41.8, almost four seconds in front of Radcliffe, Harvard’s rowing team.

The Husky B boat was fastest among all B boats (21:37.1) and beat out five A boats. In a crowd of 23, the NU C boat placed 17th with a time of 22:53.1.

It has been a month since the Head of the Charles Regatta (HOCR), the last race NU competed in prior to the FOCR.

Head Coach Joe Wilhelm prepared the rowing team by altering the makeup of the boats in practice.

“Since the Head of the Charles, we have had some really spirited competitive practices in boats smaller than the eight,” Wilhelm said in an email to The News. “When you put the team into fours and pairs and mix the lineups up, it raises the level of the entire team.”

A unique aspect of the FOCR is the incorporation of a novice eight race, a field just for rowers who have not previously competed at the collegiate level. The new collegiate racers have less water to trudge through, starting at Riverside and ending at the HOCR finish line. In a field of 15 boats, the Husky novice boat finished in the middle of the pack in 15:22.0 for seventh place.

“We are really happy with how hard the team has trained and how well we have raced this fall, but it is really important that we continue to build fitness and power over the winter,” Wilhelm said. “The spring races are shorter, 2,000 [meters] compared to 6,000 [meters] for this race, so we are going to have to be more aggressive in the spring.”

The Huskies start preseason training in Sarasota, Fla. during spring break in March. The first competition of 2015 is the annual Beanpot on March 28 against MIT, Harvard, BU and BC.

Photo courtesy Asha Michener, Northeastern Athletics