The third-ranked men's rowing team put on an impressive display in defeating Boston University on the Charles River in Boston on Saturday. In a slight headwind, the varsity eight simply proved to be too powerful for the Terriers, recording a 13.4-second victory with a time of 6:13.4. Brown edged the Terriers in three other races during the afternoon as well.
For the spring season, the varsity eight lineup welcomed the addition of two members, Rob O'Leary '09 and Gareth Seymour '09, both of whom exhibited the strength necessary to fill the void left by the graduation of Steven Van Knotsenburg '06. Also impressive was the debut of Sam Searle '07 at stroke, who showed composure in leading the boat for the first time.
Co-captain Dave Coughlin '07 was quick to point out that course conditions made it difficult for both crews to put on their prettiest display of the season. "The race was cold with a cross headwind," he said. "The varsity broke an oar in the warm-up and had to be delayed on the water while a replacement was found. (Still), it was a very strong showing and indicative of our depth."
Coughlin paid tribute to BU's efforts and expressed his satisfaction with his own squad's performance. "We always expect BU to be a very physical team. They have a lot of international rowers with world-class experience," he said. "Our training over the winter has paid off, and we had a very good first race, which we are looking to improve upon for next week's race against Harvard."
The novice eight also demonstrated why it is one of the favorites in its division this season, with a resounding 19-second victory over BU's second eight in a time of 6:18.8. Even more impressively, the second varsity boat's time was eight seconds faster than BU's first varsity boat, highlighting the level of depth in Brown's program.
The novice eights showed no signs of the nerves that afflicted the team last year, with the first boat storming to a 12.3-second victory over the Terriers in a time of 6:17.6. The Bears' third varsity boat took the final race of the day in 6:14.2, a full 15 seconds ahead of the closest Terrier boat.
Next weekend, Brown travels to Harvard for what appears to be a battle for number one in the EARC after Princeton's mediocre performance this weekend, dispatching Rutgers University by only 6.5 seconds. Harvard showed considerably less mercy on its University of Pennsylvania and United States Naval Academy opponents, defeating them by 16.4 and 8.3 seconds respectively.
The Bears will race against Harvard on Saturday on the Charles River in Boston.
