The seniors on the men's rowing team were given an emotional send-off last weekend, securing wins in three of four races. The No. 7 varsity eight stormed home in a time of 5:33.7 to finish 8.8 seconds ahead of former-No. 13 Northeastern University on a slack tide.
The performance was a great relief to co-captain Dave Coughlin '07 in the wake of last week's disappointing loss to Harvard. Coughlin emphasized the critical nature of a strong rebound performance.
"It was a good step in the right direction. We are right where we want and need to be, but the biggest challenges of the season are still ahead of us," he said.
Once again, the junior varsity dominated its opponents to finish 7.4 seconds ahead of the third varsity and a massive 14.7 seconds ahead of the Northeastern junior varsity on a slight incoming tide.
The third varsity boat's defeat of the Huskies' junior varsity was firm evidence of the depth of the squad, a fact not lost on Ed O'Neal '08.
"To be able to beat the NU (second boat) says a lot about our depth," he said.
The freshman boat bounced back from its nail-biting defeat at Harvard last week to record a comfortable 5.4-second win over a competitive Northeastern freshman boat, and continues to stake its claim for a strong seeding come the Eastern Sprints.
Overall, co-captain Ben Harrison '07 was pleased with the team's effort against Northeastern.
"It was a really exciting race for us. We have a new lineup and Northeastern put us under a lot of pressure," he said. "We responded well as a group and were able to move away in the second thousand."
Looking ahead, though, Harrison was circumspect.
"Obviously, we have some big challenges ahead of us, namely Princeton and then the Eastern Sprints," he said.
The weekend's wins will do more to restore the squad's confidence after being toppled from its lofty No. 3 by the Crimson. The Bears' next race should not provide any major challenges, as Brown faces a struggling No. 25 Dartmouth in Hanover, N.H., this Saturday. The following weekend, Brown races Princeton in New Jersey.
