In what Columbia anticipated would be a tight race, the Northeastern Huskies outraced the Lions in all four events on Saturday in Boston. After defeating Navy last weekend at the George Washington Invitational, the Lions again beat the Midshipwomen in Boston. The Light Blue also bested the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and Kansas State University.
In the First Varsity Eight, the Huskies crossed the line just 1.3 seconds ahead of Columbia to secure their victory en route to an 11-0 record on the season. Northeastern’s time of 6:42.3 beat Columbia’s 6:43.6, as well as Navy’s 6:46.7, UMass’s 6:52.8 for fourth place, and Kansas State’s last place finish in 6:53.1.
In the race itself, Northeastern jumped out with a faster start than Columbia, and the Huskies built up an early lead on the other four teams. Columbia had anticipated building a lead themselves, but found themselves out of first place and had to crank up their stroke rating from a 35 up to 39, finishing it out at a 40, in order to compete with Northeastern. Columbia was able to close the gap to just two feet in the final stretch before the Huskies rowed across the finish.
“It was definitely an adrenaline rush there, but it was a good race. Frustrating that we didn’t win, but we definitely showed heart in it,” sophomore Tori Hess said.
Sophomore coxswain Zoe Levine agreed that the race’s outcome was a hard-luck loss.
“We made an important mental change in the middle of the race and decided that we were going to make something happen,” she said. “We were able to pull up within a seat of them, and I feel that if there had been 10 more strokes in the race, I could have called the rating up one more time and we might have just edged them out.”
Levine said that the Lions just need to keep up the intensity that they had in the last 700 meters of the race from start to finish in order to beat its competition.
“It’s so easy when you’re down to not give it that extra kick and just let it go, and we didn’t do that—we brought it back,” Hess said of the race.
In Second Varsity Eight, Northeastern emerged from the water first again, finishing the course in 6:43.9. Columbia was runner-up in 6:50.9, and Kansas State claimed third in 6:59.8. UMass and Navy rounded out the top five in 7:04.2 and 7:12.5, respectively.
Columbia’s start left them trailing Northeastern by about a boat-length.
“Our focus is mostly after the start anyway, on the body of the race, so I don’t think that was a big concern that we were down a little bit,” junior Colleen Cotter said.
By the middle of the race, Columbia had caught up with Northeastern, trading the lead seat-for-seat. In the last 500 meters, however, the Huskies pulled away at the finish. Northeastern again triumphed in the Varsity Fours with a time of 8:01.7. Kansas State finished second in 8:06.1, leading Columbia’s third place 8:14.6, and Navy’s 8:40.7 for fourth place.
In the Novice Eight, Northeastern clocked in at 7:11 flat, with Navy behind them in 7:14.5, UMass in third in 7:38.8, and Columbia fourth in 7:54.9. Kansas State did not row in the Novice Eight.
The Light Blue will travel to Ithaca next weekend for a race against host Cornell and NCAA powerhouse Brown.
“We want to race our own race, get the fastest time that we can, and hopefully beat Cornell and be as close as we can with Brown,” Levine said.
“You never know what can happen [on race day]. We look forward to a tough race, but a good one.”
In Second Varsity, Cotter said that the boat looks to best its previous finishes this season.
“We keep finishing the same distance [behind]. Hopefully with Cornell we can be a little bit closer with them in battle,” Cotter said.
Next weekend, the women’s crew squad will participate in its last regular season regatta. The Lions head to the EAWRC Sprints on May 12 in Camden, NJ.
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