Twenty-mile-per-hour headwinds and choppy waters made racing a challenge Saturday morning on the Charles River, but a lack of motivation may have been the No. 8 Boston University crew team’s greatest obstacle.
Two weeks after the Terriers edged No. 10 Northeastern University by 1.33 seconds to capture fourth place in the San Diego Crew Classic, the Huskies exacted revenge by a slightly narrower 1.32-second margin to win their second consecutive Arlett Cup, 6:31.16 to the Terriers’ 6:32.48.
“I wasn’t happy about it. We underachieved a little bit. We definitely could have done better than we did, but I don’t think we were as fully psyched about it as we could have been,” said BU coach Thomas Bohrer.
BU trailed early and pulled even with the Huskies a quarter of the way through, but couldn’t manage a kick as Northeastern pulled away down the stretch.
“They got a little better [than the last time we saw them.] I thought we were getting better as well. It is what it is. If we really executed, we would have made it hard on them,” Bohrer said.
Historically, Northeastern has owned the Arlett Cup, an annual dual meet that pits the Huskies against the Terriers. Northeastern has won nine of the last 10 meets and leads the overall series, 25-8.
“We’re very similar in a lot of ways. We share the same river. We recruit a lot of the same kids. We’re just very similar to Northeastern, which helps build the rivalry, I think,” Bohrer said.
The Terriers’ appearance in the San Diego Crew Classic marked their first invite to the prestigious meet since 1992. But the looming memory of his squads’ success out west didn’t make the loss any easier to swallow for Coach Bohrer.
“This was a big race, and honestly I think our guys need to take it more seriously,” he said.
The second-year coach, who just last week was inducted into the National Rowing Hall of Fame, didn’t see the inclement weather as a viable excuse.
“It was windy but nothing I would call unrowable. If it was too rough, we wouldn’t have rowed, but the fact of the matter is the team has to be ready for any condition. Still, I think it did intimidate the guys a little bit, though,” he said.
BU’s 2nd varsity and freshman teams provided a silver lining by wining 6:57.7 to 7:11.4 and 7:12.8 to 7:25.7, respectively.
“I think it shows that we have some depth. Those other boats executed what they had to do well,” Bohrer said.
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