Results

The Northeastern women's rowing Team traveled to Princeton, N.J. to compete against some of the top collegiate rowing programs on the east coast at the Princeton Chase. Sunny skies, and colorful fall foliage provided a bucolic setting, but fallen leaves blanketed Lake Carnegie, creating tough racing conditions.

These leaves can collect on the fins of passing racing shells, making even the fastest crews feel like they are rowing in mud. While the Northeastern crews face this on the Charles River in practice, they rarely encounter them in race conditions. This weekend, however, leaves and river debris directly impacted the results of three of the Husky crews.

The Varsity eight posted one of the fastest times of the day to the midway point, until leaves started to gather on their fin, slowing them considerably over the second half of the course.

“I could feel the leaves start to collect just before the first turn and the crew began to labor.” explained coxswain, Lauren Todd.

She tried to clear the debris by reaching under the boat, but the fin was out of her reach. They rowed over a mile dragging a clump of leaves to the finish line. Despite the added drag, the Huskies finished ninth in a field of 17 varsity eights. The 2V had a cleaner run down the course, and finished fifth of 15 second varsity eights.

“It was a frustrating day,” said head coach Joe Wilhelm. "We had a solid week of preparation, and were excited to race here today. The varsity eight was having a great run down the course but once they felt the increased drag, there was nothing they could do but push to the finish line. They really impressed me today. They rowed with great resolve in some tough circumstances”

In other action, the pairing of sophomore Nadine Pozzobon and junior Luisa Maldonado finished second in the Women's Double, behind the top crew from Columbia University. Senior Jen Forbes, and junior Greta Haselmann finished third in the Women's Pair, with the combination of seniors, Laura Carroll and Katie Ward just behind them in fourth. Pairs from Cornell finished first and second.

Northeastern fielded two eights in the Novice event which was won by Virginia. The top crew, comprised of recruited freshmen finished sixth, while the second boat of true novices finished 15th. The fours event was won by host school Princeton. The top two Husky crews encountered the same problems with leaves as the varsity eight. The “A” four lost their steering and had to come to a complete stop to avoid hitting the shore. The three entries in the fours event finished 23rd, 27h and 28th out of 37 crews.

The Huskies will have the weekend off before concluding the fall season at the Foot of the Charles on November 13.