The Boston University women’s crew team scored a major victory Saturday at the Foot of the Charles when it beat top-ranked Brown University for the first time in four years, ending the fall races with the greatest victory of the season.
‘It was pretty sweet,’ said senior Freddie Garnier. ‘[Brown] was right behind us for the whole race, so I had a good view. It was very satisfying.’
The varsity four, made up of seniors Garnier, Kat Haimes and Kari Oversvee and junior Kara Eiber, finished just seconds ahead of Brown with a time of 13:50.
The other three fours claimed the 8th, 22nd and 23rd spots with times of 14:23, 14:58 and 15:42, respectively.
‘Throughout the fall, those four [in the varsity A boat] have been really meshing well together,’ said BU Coach Holly Hatton. ‘As a result, I think that’s where we stood out. We had an edge on them in that respect.’
Oversvee said the difference in this race from previous meetings with Brown was a ‘change of focus. I think other races fell flat in spots, and we were more aware of that.’
Garnier agreed.
‘I think we were all pretty pumped going into it. We knew we were ready for that and excited about it. We kept them as a focus during the race,’ she said.
Hatton attributes the success to BU’s emphasis on smaller boats this season.
‘I think we’ve been doing very well in the small boat racing throughout the fall,’ she said.
Hatton said she hopes this speed will transfer into the spring varsity eight as the team looks to solidify lineups and match another four people to the already strong stern four during winter training.
The other boats did similarly well at the Foot, especially the novice A eight, which has consistently finished strong in the fall races. The novice A eight came in second behind the Brown novice A with a time of 13:09.7. The other novice eights placed 9th, 12th and 19th.
The varsity eight concluded the day’s races with a fifth place finish at 13:41.8.
The regatta results were encouraging for the team, which has had a strong but somewhat disappointing fall season. With the current victory, however, the team is looking forward to the upcoming months of training to take the spring season head-on.
‘There’s no better way to build confidence than to win a race like that where you go up against one of the best crews in the country and to have that as your last impression before winter training,’ Hatton said.
‘I think the Foot of the Charles puts us in a good place to start winter training, and if we can keep the momentum, I don’t see why we wouldn’t have an excellent spring season,’ Garnier said.
The team’s winter training will focus on building strength and speed for the shorter 2000-meter sprint races of the spring schedule.
‘Our goal is to get physically stronger,’ Hatton said. ‘That’s the area we lack. We don’t have the size of some of the other crews.’
Garnier said, ‘I think overall we just need to become as strong as we can possibly be. We need to get our ergs down and build up endurance and aggressive energy. With 2k pieces, we need to push from beginning to end.’
The Terriers take to the river again in March against Syracuse University and the University of Massachusetts with their eyes on an NCAA bid in May.