CAMBRIDGE, MA-The Terrier men's crew closed out its regular season by losing to Brown on Saturday, May 7, rowing on a cold, windy, rainy Charles River.

With the victory, the Bruins successfully defended the Michalson Cup, named in honor of Vic Michalson, the former Brown coach who led Brown from 1961-81. It was the 21st renewal of the Cup and one would be hard-pressed to recall a day in which the weather conditions were worse than on Saturday.

"We were able to handle the weather conditions pretty well," said Paul Cooke, head coach of Brown's eighth-ranked crew.

The Bruins covered the challenging course in 5:50.6, while the Terriers rowed in 6:00.3.

Ironically, weather played a factor in the scheduling of Brown this year. The two crews were originally slated to meet on April 2nd. However, the weather forecast of rain and wind forced the two crews to postpone their regatta to Saturday.

"The eye of that first storm settled over Boston, and, as it turned out, we could have rowed that day," said Terrier head coach Rodney Pratt. "Who was to know that we would have a storm like this today?"

In the race, Brown got off to a good start and led by half-a-length through the first 500 meters. At that point, the water conditions improved, and the Bruins took advantage of it to take a lead of a couple of lengths. The boats then reached the Mass Ave. bridge where the conditions worsened considerably. While the Terriers tried to battle back and close the gap, they were not able to overcome the conditions and lost by open water.

"Our boat was not able to handle the water," said Pratt. "The bow kept going under water as the boat had pitching action.

"Give our rowers credit that they never gave up and kept pounding away," continued Pratt. "Hopefully, we will show this was an aberration next weekend at the Sprints," said Pratt.

"I want to thank B.U. for hosting the regatta," said Cooke. "Based on how they have been doing, I knew B.U. was rowing well and they had a strong crew. I am really proud of this win, and how we were able to handle the weather."

The Terriers fared better in the second varsity race where they outrowed the Bruins by better than nine seconds-6:13.5 to 6:22.8.

However, Brown countered by winning both freshmen races-6:01.0 to 6:17.0 in the battle between the first freshmen boats and 6:32.0 to 6:21.0 in the second freshmen race.