Regatta Notes
Real Time Results
Friday Schedule

CHERRY HILL, N.J. – After day one of the 2006 IRA National Championship on the Cooper River, the freshmen led the Boston University men’s crew team with a win in the afternoon’s repechage to advance to the top semifinals with a guaranteed trip to either the Grand or Petite Finals. Meanwhile, the varsity eights suffered a disappointing loss in their rep and will row in the bottom semifinals tomorrow; and the second varsity eight, open four and varsity pair boats still await their fate in tomorrow’s reps.

Although the varsity pair was first up on the schedule, there was a delay on the course and the pair racing was pushed back to the end of the morning heats, thus it was the varsity eights that opened the morning rowing.

Unseeded in Heat 2, the Terriers faced second-seeded California, seventh-seeded Washington, 10th-seeded Cornell, Dartmouth and Rutgers. Unfortunately for the Terriers, the stern of the shell caught on the stake boat off the start, thus slightly jerking the boat as the race got underway. Making a quick recovery, BU still managed to keep with the pack in the opening strokes, before Cal and Washington jumped out in front to take the top two spots for good. The Terriers ended up locked in a dual with Cornell for third place, while Rutgers and Dartmouth fell behind in a race for fifth place.

After being down a length on Cornell in the second 500, BU made a push around the 1,250-meter mark and rowed through the Big Red. Although it appeared that the Terriers’ hold on third place lasted through the remainder of the 2,000-meter course, a photo finish proved that Cornell’s push in the last 10 strokes gave them just under a quarter-second advantage to push BU back to fourth place in the heat. Cal was first (5:35.8), Washington came up second (5:36.1), Cornell was third (5:45.8), BU placed fourth (5:46.1), Rutgers was fifth (6:01.1) and Dartmouth came last (6:05.98).

The Terriers then rowed in the second of four repechages in the late afternoon, needing a win to advance to either Semifinal 1 or 2 for a chance to make it back to the Grand Final for a second-straight year. Competing against Navy and Holy Cross, which were four and seven seconds slower than BU in the heat racing, respectively, the Terriers rowed to third place in a time of 5:53.27 after not being able to recover from a length deficit in the first 500. Navy grabbed the victory in 5:50.2, while Holy Cross was second in 5:52.1. BU will now row in Semifinal 4 tomorrow (12:36 p.m.) versus George Washington, Oregon State, Columbia, Dartmouth and Rutgers.

In race number two of the day for BU, the 11th-seeded freshman eights took on third-seeded Penn, sixth-seeded Wisconsin, Navy, Dartmouth and Syracuse in Heat 3. With Wisconsin and Penn taking the lead right off the start, the Terriers were in a battle for the middle positions with Navy and Syracuse. At 1,000 meters, Navy and BU were almost even with Syracuse trailing by a half length and Penn and Wisconsin holding the lead with open water. In the third 500, the Terriers nudged past Navy, then sprinted home for the third-place finish in 6:00.45, also good for 10th overall among all 24 freshman boats.

Penn was first in the heat (5:54.7), Wisconsin held second (5:56.89), Navy was fourth (6:05.1), Syracuse was fifth (6:08.6) and Dartmouth was sixth (6:11.7). Using the same format as the varsity eights, the freshman boat then rowed against MIT, Gonzaga and Ohio State in Repechage 2 in the late afternoon, needing a win to make either Semifinal 1 or 2.

Although MIT jumped out to an early lead, the Terriers prevailed by the 500-meter mark and expanded their lead to a length by 1,500 meters and cross the finish in 6:03.7, ahead of MIT (6:07.3), Gonzaga (6:11.7) and Ohio State (6:40.3). BU will row in the second semifinal tomorrow at 3:25 p.m. against Washington, Harvard, Brown, Wisconsin and Yale. The top three advance to the Grand Final, while the bottom three will row in the Petites on Saturday.

In second varsity eight action, the eighth-seeded Terriers were met with second-seeded California, fifth-seeded Wisconsin, 12th-seeded Temple in the second of just three heats. After BU had a strong start and an early lead with Cal, Wisconsin made a move to gain open water on Cal by the second 500, with BU a length behind Cal, and Georgetown and Temple a few seats back from BU. Despite a hard sprint by Georgetown and Temple to catch BU in the final strokes, the Terriers held to third place in 5:59.01, behind Wisconsin (5:47.3) and Cal (5:50.4). Georgetown clocked in at 6:00.6 and Temple finished in 6:02.1.

With no semifinals for the second varsity eights, the Terriers will row in the second of three reps on Friday at 11:36 a.m. against Brown, Michigan and Syracuse. The winner of each of the reps will advance to the Grand Final, with second and third places going to the Petite Final and all other crews in the Third Level Final.

Finally, BU’s last two races of the morning were the open fours (w/coxswain) and varsity pair. In the four race, the Terriers came up fifth in a time of 6:56.0, behind Yale (6:36.5), Princeton “A” (6:38.8), Georgetown (6:49.0) and Brown (6:52.4), and ahead of Dartmouth (7:08.6). The format is the same as the second varsity eights, thus BU will race again Princeton “A”, Penn and George Washington in the last of three reps at 8:24 a.m. on Friday, with the winner advancing to the Grand Final.

Also following the same format were the varsity pair races, in which BU was fourth in the second heat with a time of 7:15.7, behind Princeton (7:03.8), USC (7:06.3) and Rochester (7:06.4), and ahead of Lehigh (7:15.7) and Harvard (7:17.0). The Terriers will row in the second of three reps at 7:36 a.m. on Friday versus Stanford, Dartmouth, St. Joseph’s and Georgia Tech.