Coming off a challenging meet in brutal weather conditions against No. 2 University of Cal-Berkley and No. 10 University of Washington and faced with another tough regatta next weekend, the Boston University women’s crew team was ripe for a letdown last weekend against lower-ranked opponents.
But the Terrier women took the task in stride, winning both their first varsity eight and varsity four crew races in a regatta against George Washington University, Navy and M.I.T on a windy and overcast Saturday morning on the Charles River.
“It was a nice break between two tough meets,” said BU coach Holly Hatton. “We were kind of on cruise control this week, but we were able to go out there and take care of business.”
The Terriers novice eight squad opened the day with a third place finish (8:03.10) in a four-team race. The Terriers finished behind Navy’s first boat (7:57.57) and MIT (8:02.07), but beat Navy’s second boat at 8:24.10.
The first varsity eight squad put up an impressive performance. Positions 1-8 were occupied by Kaitlin Murphy, Veronika Karlsson, Elene Brett-Evans, Emily Brown, Lauren Priest, Tess Miller, Meghan Neufeld and Amanda Milbourne, with Christine Neville as coxswain. The Terriers matched up against George Washington and dominated from start to finish, winning with a time of 7:16.20. BU took an early lead, which steadily increased throughout the 2,000-meter course. Normally it would have been a three-team race, but Navy sent one of their squads elsewhere during the weekend.
“This is what we were expecting. George Washington is a respectable team, but we knew we wanted to beat them by a large margin,” Hatton said. “I’m glad we had easier competition after coming back from California the previous weekend.”
The next race featured the second varsity eight squad race, which included three teams. BU finished in the middle of the pack (7:31.0), losing to Navy (7:26.9) and finishing ahead of George Washington (7:46.2).
“They had a tough race out there,” Hatton said. “They lost to Navy by a good margin, probably a team we shouldn’t have lost to.”
The poor performance left the coaching staff to consider reconfiguring that squad — not an uncommon practice in crew.
“We are looking for slight changes,” Hatton said. “We need a better performance next weekend, so we will have to mix and match a little, see which girls row best with the others.”
The final race of the day, however, left the Terrier women with plenty to be optimistic about. BU finished off the day with a victory in the varsity four boat race. The squad posted an impressive time of 8:23.30. MIT finished second to the Terriers with a time of 8:30.90, followed by Navy’s A-squad with a time of 8:35.30, GW with a time of 8:54.30 and Navy’s B-squad with a time of 8:56.40.
The women rowers — Riva Denny, Kelsea Gusk, Larina Helm, Kathryn Zultner and coxswain Cydney Nakama — dominated the race despite being grouped together only two days beforehand.
“We had no idea what they could do, especially since they had never rowed together as a group of four,” Hatton said. “They put on the best race of the day. At one point in the race they were challenged by M.I.T., but they easily met the challenge. It really left us on a positive note.”
Up next for the Terrier women is a difficult regatta against Yale University and Dartmouth College Saturday, April 8 at 8:00 a.m.
The Yale team is one of the top teams in the nation, but that’s not all the Terriers will have to deal with. The course also presents a challenge, as it features a turn in the middle of the regatta.
“It’s common that the race is won or lost at that turn,” Hatton said. “I’m really looking forward to it. This is a great opportunity to match up against a strong crew. I think it will be really challenging for us, but our girls are ready.”