By Peter A. Martin

The men’s rowing team competed in the Eastern Association of Rowing Coaches (EARC) Sprints in Worcester this weekend, one of two national regattas on the Huskies’ schedule.

“It went pretty well, and we are pretty happy with our finish,” said Bill Benjamin, senior team captain.

In the morning, the crew raced in its fastest heat of the day, taking second place to Wisconsin and holding off a hard charging Naval Academy crew in the last few strokes.

That finish qualified the sixth-ranked Huskies for the Grand Final that Sunday afternoon against the No. 3 Wisconsin crew that beat them in the heat along with No. 2 Brown, No. 5 Princeton, No. 9 Columbia and No. 13 Yale.

The lane draws for that final were not favorable for the Huskies, who were drawn far on the outside in lane six. Although they battled with Yale all the way down the course, they lost touch with the leaders and finished fifth in 6:19.2, almost 10 seconds behind first place Wisconsin, who finished in 6:09.7.

“It was the most unfavorable start we could have gotten,” Benjamin said. “We had a duel with Yale on the outside, but if we could have been in the middle of the pack we might have had a different outcome.”

The Huskies now have the remainder of this week and next week to prepare for their final regatta of the season, the Intercollegiate Rowing Association Championships June 5-7 in Camden, NJ.

The IRAs is a more competitive race featuring the top crews from the Western United States, including the top ranked and undefeated University of Washington, No. 7 Stanford and No. 8 Cal Berkeley, as well as the crews that participated in the EARC Sprints.

Despite this increased level of competition, the Huskies are confident.

“I believe in our team and our process,” Benjamin said. “We come to practice every day and we get faster. We need to sharpen up what we do well, but we can certainly make it to the medal dock.”