The season wasn’t supposed to begin this way.
The Boston University women’s crew team had high expectations for itself heading into last weekend’s spring season opener against Syracuse University, Duke University and the University of Texas, but both the varsity and junior varsity eights failed to secure a win for the Terriers.
The varsity lost to Syracuse’s time of 6:45.1 by less than two seconds with its finish in 6:46.9. Texas followed with a 6:54.9, and Duke trailed the pack at 7:04.9 across the finish line.
“The varsity had a great second 1,000 meters,” said BU coach Holly Hatton. “They really got their stride toward the middle, but they clearly did not have a good start.”
The varsity boat consisted of Maeve Schulz, Kat Haimes, Fiola Foley, Hillary Hegener, Amy Lawless, Lisa Duncombe, Kari Oversvee, Lisa Masi and Freddie Garnier.
BU’s second varsity boat also had some trouble on the Charles, crossing the line third to the Orangemen’s 7:13.6. The Terriers battled the Texas eight across the line but lost by less than one second, 7:24.11 to 7:24.7. Duke finished the course in 7:30.45.
The junior varsity lineup was Monya Hudsick, Meghan Wright, Deirdre Browne, Kate Berkeley, Kate Cebulski, Abbey Drake, Ariel Kraten, co-captain Alexis Brady and Katie Moutenot.
“Obviously, we were disappointed about losing our first race,” said Brady, who rows two seat. “We always like to win that race and get a good start to our season. We were disappointed, but we didn’t let it crush our spirit.”
“The JV has really been devastated by injuries,” Hatton said. “Its speed honestly isn’t that of a JV boat. Right now, it’s not a viable crew for our team bid [to the NCAA Championships in May].”
Hatton has plans to seat race the JV boat with athletes from the second novice eight next week.
“The goal is to get a team bid,” Hatton said. “While I’m trying to respect the athletes who have been putting in the time training, I’m probably going to be juggling the boatings all spring. I’m confident that the people are there; we just have to get them into the right boats.”
This weekend’s competition and next weekend’s face-off with George Washington University, the University of Iowa and the U.S. Naval Academy don’t concern Hatton as much as the remainder of the Terriers’ spring schedule. The women don’t face teams that count for their NCAA regional qualifiers until their third match-up of the season.
“Not to say that these first two races are throwaways by any means, but the Dartmouth/Yale race will show us where we stand,” Hatton said.
The novice team netted a hat trick, winning all three of their races on Saturday.
The first novice eight cruised to their first victory in 7:13.0, followed by Texas’ 7:24.54 and Syracuse’s 7:30.5. The boat included Katie Slepyan, Kate Larson, Jeannie Rich, Adrienne Murray, Regina Cambilurgiu, Diana Bennett, Shauna Goldberg, Kara Eiber and Rachael Atkinson.
The second and third novice eights were broken up into fours because the competition didn’t have enough rowers to field eights. In the second novice race, BU snagged first and second place with an 8:26.8 and an 8:41.98, while Syracuse finished 20 seconds behind in 9:01.73 and the Rutgers University four clocked a 9:03.9.
The second novice BU “A” lineup was Yael Erlitz, Laura Skriner, Karina Matyukhina, Isabell Weberbauer and Sarah Aaby. BU “B” was coxed by Ashley Morgan and rowed by Katie McKee, Rachel Heckl, Sara Leigh Medley and Nicole Defeo.
The third novice fours were the top finishers in their race as well, although they raced different teams because Syracuse and Texas don’t have third novices. BU finished in 8:43.6 and 8:53.7, while Radcliffe College posted a 9:01.5 and Northeastern University dragged behind with a 9:38.0.
The third novice BU “A” boat consisted of Casey O’Sullivan, Amanda Peterson, Ashley Harwood, Jessica Sobel and Maggie McLaughlin. The BU “B” lineup was Morgan, Christine Miller, Sarah Harwood, Devon Hyde and Nicole Lynaugh.
The Terriers race Iowa, Navy and George Washington next Saturday on the Charles River.
This is an account occasionally used by the Daily Free Press editors to post archived posts from previous iterations of the site or otherwise for special circumstance publications. See authorship info on the byline at the top of the page.
