In the last home regatta of the season, the Boston University men’s crew team lost to the Huskies of Northeastern University in the 26th annual Arlett Cup on Saturday. Northeastern bested BU in both the heavyweight varsity and freshmen races, while the Terriers managed a victory in the second varsity race.
In the heavyweight varsity race, Northeastern took the lead right from the start and never relinquished it, defeating the Terriers by six seconds, 6:03.11 to 6:09.49.
BU has struggled at the start of races this season, losing to both Northeastern and Brown University, and coming from behind to defeat Syracuse University by only five-tenths of a second.
Senior captain Andrew Henry admitted the Terriers’ early faults in races this season.
‘We are working heavily on shorter distances in practice, trying to get the first half of races together,’ Henry said.
But Henry is quick to point out that the team is not going to make any major changes.
‘We’re sticking to our game plan,’ the captain said. ‘We’re more concerned with the finish than the start. The crews we’ve raced so far are some of the fastest in the country. Brown and Northeastern are usually top five teams.’
Another factor contributing to the Terriers’ problems is the overall inexperience of the team. This year’s squad features only five seniors.
‘We have three or four new guys up from the freshman team,’ Henry added. ‘They’re still good rowers; they just haven’t rowed under [BU coach Rodney Pratt] before. We’re doing a lot of longer rowing to help [us] jell as a team.’
BU has also been troubled by injuries. In Saturday’s race, Terrier sophomore Jaxson Rudduck rowed with a broken hand. But Henry downplayed the effect of the injury on the outcome of the race.
‘[Rudduck] could definitely feel it in the race, but he’s a pretty tough guy.’
In the second varsity race, the Terriers earned a victory, beating Northeastern 6:16.20 to 6:18.22. The BU second varsity team had previously failed to win a race all season, losing to Brown and Syracuse.
The BU freshman team suffered its second loss of the season by a margin of less than seven seconds, 6:19.84 to 6:26.81. The other defeat came against Brown.
The Terriers have three regattas left in the season before the start of the Eastern Sprints on May 11. The team will focus the rest of the season on meeting its goal of reaching the finals of the Eastern Sprints.
That event will be followed by the IRA Regattas on May 29-31, which are the national championships of collegiate crew.
The Terriers’ next regatta is the Bill Cup against Dartmouth College and Rutgers University on April 19.