By James Walton

With a startlingly convincing victory over the University of Pennsylvania this past weekend at the Burk Cup, the men’s crew team seems to be doing just what it had forecasted it would following a tough loss at the Windermere Cup earlier this month – heat up just in time for Nationals.

In the 34th annual running Saturday, Northeastern posted the fastest time ever on the Charles River for a Burk Cup race. The varsity eight traversed the 2000-meter course in 5:44.7, and finished close to three lengths ahead of Penn (5:53.5). It was the largest margin of victory for NU this season.

“Penn’s a really good crew, and to beat pretty much anyone in the country by that much this late in the season is a good accomplishment, so we are happy about that,” said senior rower Brad Burns.

The victory came despite a slow start by Northeastern, something the team has struggled with this season, and something continued training would hopefully solve.

“We got off the line pretty rough [Saturday],” said Burns, who sits in the stroke seat. “I really think our only downfall, if we have any right now, is our start. Pretty much every crew we’ve raced, we got down on the start, and then we’ve moved back on them and sometimes we just get defeated by half a second, or we win the race. So, I think if we can get off the line a little bit quicker, our middle speed or our finishing speed is comparable, I would say to any crew in the country. We just need to get off the line quicker, because pretty much every crew we have raced has got off the line quicker.”

In practice, the team has been fiddling with their starting sequence, but mental resilience on the water is also a key factor.

“We just have to be a little more relaxed, and try not to think about it as much and just put or blades in the water,” said Burns. “That’s pretty much the problem solver when you are rowing. If it’s not going well, just put your blades in the water.”

The Huskies trail in the Burk Cup series, 19-15, to Penn but have now taken the cup the past two seasons.

In the second varsity race, Penn prevailed with a time of 6:03.6, compared to NU’s 6:09.6. Despite possessing a half-boat lead with just 800 meters remaining in the freshman race, the Quakers were defeated thanks to a late Husky surge. Northeastern won in 6:04.3, compared to Penn’s 6:06.3.

Next on the team’s plate is the Intercollegiate Rowing Association (IRA) Championships to be held on the Cooper River in Camden, N.J., May 29-31, and the Huskies feel they have just as good a chance to swallow the competition as any other crew competing.