At an event that has not traditionally been a significant source of success for the men's crew team, the varsity four "A" boat was able to capture second place at the Foot of the Charles regatta on Nov. 18.
The Bears raced six varsity four-man boats in their last event of the fall season, which was held on the Charles River in Boston. The Harvard "A" boat recorded a time of 13:07.5 to win the event. Brown's "A" boat finished in a time of 13:14 to take second, and Brown's "B" boat took fifth at 13:22.5.
The loss was just the second one for Bruno in its past six meetings with the Crimson, but the Bears were happy with their results. Brown placed high across the board, also taking seventh, 14th, 21st and 24th places in a field of 39 boats. This included the Brown "D" boat's win over the Northeastern University "A" boat, which indicates the depth of the current squad.
In the Freshman Eights race, the Bears finished second in a hard-fought battle with Northeastern and Harvard. The Bears time of 12:34.5 put them 2.9 seconds behind Northeastern and 0.9 seconds ahead of Harvard, setting the stage for a battle in the Freshman Division of the ECAC.
The women's crew team took second place on the opposite side of the draw at the Foot of the Charles regatta. In a result that almost exactly mirrored that achieved by the men's team, the Radcliffe "A" boat took the race from the Bears "A" boat by seven seconds with a time of 14:56.8. Brown's time of 15:03.8 placed them ahead of the Northeastern "A" and the Boston College "A" fours.
The team can take solace, however, in the fact that they demonstrated greater depth than their rivals, as their "B," "C," "D" and "E" boats outpaced their rivals by considerable distances. Brown's "C" boat came in fifth with a time of 15:25.2, and the "E" boat was the lowest Brown finisher at 23rd in a 40-boat field.
Brown's Novice Eights were swept aside by an extremely strong Radcliffe boat that appears to have a stranglehold on the event going into the winter months. The women's novice eight managed to record faster times than Cornell and Boston University, but it was bettered by Ivy League rival Dartmouth by nearly 10 seconds.
