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Crew rebounds after loss

After a weekend that offered two days of racing and face-offs with five schools, the Boston University women’s crew team has a few things to feel good about.

The varsity eight put its first mark in the win category in a race against the University of Wisconsin and the University of Massachusetts yesterday morning. The Terriers crossed the line in 6:47.8, followed by Wisconsin at 6:51.2 and UMass at 6:52.6. The win was especially sweet after Saturday’s loss to the University of Iowa by only 1.4 seconds.

“I was disappointed in Saturday’s race,” said BU coach Holly Hatton. “I felt the varsity spun its wheels the whole time despite having many opportunities to step up and win. It wasn’t a race I wanted to lose, and it wasn’t one I expected to lose.”

After the first race of the weekend resulted in a loss, Hatton’s team developed a more solid race plan that she labeled “conservative.” According to Hatton, Sunday’s win was due to her team’s execution of the race plan.

“We went out with a job in mind, so we knew where and when to take our moves, and we were committed to them, whereas the day before we just didn’t really feel in control,” said senior Fiola Foley, seven seat in the varsity eight.

Co-captain Hillary Hegener said the difference in the two races was, in one word, “control.”

“It’s nice to have a win under our belts heading into tougher competition,” she said.

The varsity boat lineup was Foley, Hegener, Maeve Schulz, Kat Haimes, Jelena Tomic, Kari Oversvee, Amy Lawless, Lisa Masi and Freddie Garnier.

The second varsity boat didn’t fare as well as the varsity eight in their two weekend matchups.

In Saturday’s race, BU lost to the U.S. Naval Academy by one second while defeating George Washington University by 20 seconds. The JV did little better yesterday, posting a 7:05.1, which was good enough to beat UMass’ 7:05.1, but fell short of Wisconsin’s winning time of 6:58.5.

Despite the loss, the boat’s coxswain felt an improvement in the second race of the weekend.

“For the first time, we raced and got off the water with no regrets,” said junior Monya Hudsick. “Last week and Saturday, we felt we could have done better, and that’s never a good feeling to have afterward. We feel like [Sunday] was a really big turning point.”

The JV boat was coxed by Hudsick and rowed by co-captain Alexis Brady, Lisa Duncombe, Meghan Wright, Deirdre Browne, Kate Berkeley, Leanna Berger, Abbey Drake and Ariel Kraten.

The JV eight will have to post some impressive results during the remainder of its season in order to help the Terriers toward a team bid to the NCAAs at the end of May, as will the rest of the team.

“We improved today,” Hatton said Sunday, “but we still have a lot to do. After the first two weeks of the season, it’s necessary for us to re-establish ourselves, which I believe we can do.”

The third varsity four “B” squeaked by Navy on Saturday to win by less than one second. Yesterday’s third varsity race included three BU boats, which dominated the race. BU “C” won in 8:01, followed by BU “B” in 8:06.0, UMass in 8:06.5, BU “A” in 8:07.9 and Wisconsin in 8:19.

The BU “A” lineup was Katie Slepyan, Rachael Atkinson, Adrienne Murray, Shauna Goldberg and Diana Bennett; BU “B” included Jill Weinberg, Kate Cebulski, Sara Leigh Medley, Jen Welc and Katie Moutenot; BU “C” was Yael Erlitz, Kate Larson, Regina Cambilurgiu, Kara Eiber and Jeannie Rich.

The novices continued their undefeated streak through both sets of races, winning several races by impressive margins.

“We’re doing well, but the field this year is really tight,” said novice coach Gailyn Perrin. “So far they’ve had races where they’ve been able to get out in front and keep the lead, which is sometimes harder because there’s no one there for them to race against. I see them at their best when they’re neck-and-neck with someone.”

On Saturday, the first novice eight blew past the competition with their finish time of 6:59.9 to George Washington’s 7:12 and Navy’s 7:19.5. Yesterday, BU posted a 7:04.9, defeating Wisconsin by five seconds and UMass by nearly 30 seconds.

The boat included Slepyan, Larson, Rich, Murray, Cambilurgiu, Bennett, Goldberg, Eiber and Atkinson.

The second novice eight won Saturday’s race by over 20 seconds, cruising to the finish line with ease, and demolished UMass yesterday by almost twice that margin, 7:23.6 to 8:00.

The lineup for both days was Erlitz, Laura Skriner, Sarah Aaby, Katie McKee, Karina Matyukhina, Isabell Weberbauer, Maggie McLaughlin, Amanda Peterson and Rachel Heckl.

The third novice eight was included in the second novice race on the first day of competition and finished last against the second novice crews. A third novice four raced yesterday and crossed the line in 8:27.9, well ahead of UMass’ 9:15.7

The novice four included Ashley Morgan, Sarah Harwood, Nicole Defeo, Devon Hyde and Ashley Harwood.

The Terriers travel to Connecticut next week to face Yale University and Dartmouth College in their first regional qualifying race of the season.

“I’m psyched; I think we can definitely win it,” said Schultz, the varsity coxswain. “But it’s not going to be easy.”

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