BOSTON – The Northeastern men's rowing team kicks off postseason competition on Sunday when the Huskies travel to Worcester, Mass. for the 79th annual Eastern Sprints on Lake Quinsigamond.
Northeastern has four eights entered in the regatta. Heats begin at 8 a.m. with the fourth varsity followed by the first varsity (8:20 a.m.), second varsity (9:40 a.m.) and third varsity (10:10 a.m.). The top two finishers in each heat will advance to the grand finals, third and fourth place finishers to the petite finals and remaining crews to the third level finals later in the day.
THREE THINGS TO KNOW
1. REGULAR SEASON RECAP
The Huskies went through a competitive regular season schedule, with the first varsity earning cup victories over Penn, Brown and Boston University, marking the 13th time in team history that the Huskies have won the Arlett, Burk and Dreissigacker cups in the same season. Northeastern saw how it measures up against the top crews in the country week in and week out, going up against No. 1 Washington twice, at the Sarasota 2K and Windemere Cup, as well as No. 4 Harvard on two occasions.
Northeastern's lower boats have also seen success to this point in the year, with the second varsity defeating Penn, Yale, Stanford and Boston University while the 3V has wins over Brown, Yale, Stanford and Boston University.
2. SEEDINGS AND LANE ASSIGNMENTS
Northeastern's first varsity enters Sprints ranked sixth in the EARC, and will line up in lane 2 against top-seeded Princeton, No. 7 Yale, No. 12 Wisconsin and No. 13 Navy. The second varsity also checks in at No. 6 ahead of the championship with a matchup set for 9:40 a.m. against No. 1 Harvard, No. 7 Penn, No. 12 Columbia and No. 13 Navy.
The third and fourth varsity boats are seventh and ninth, respectively. The 3V lines up against No. 1 Harvard, No. 6 Syracuse, No. 12 Navy and No. 13 Holy Cross with the 4V set for No. 1 Princeton, No. 4 Dartmouth, No. 5 Syracuse, No. 8 Yale and No. 13 Columbia.
3. NORTHEASTERN'S HISTORY AT THE EASTERN SPRINTS
The Huskies are making their 58th appearance at the Eastern Sprints, and have participated in every regatta since 1966. Northeastern has captured eight first place finishes at the championship—two by the varsity eight (1972, 1973), one by the second varsity eight (2014), two from the varsity four (2015, 2018, 2019, 2025), and one by the freshman eight (1978). In total, NU eights have appeared in 97 Eastern Sprints grand finals (First Varsity: 33, Second Varsity: 34, Third Varsity: 5, Freshman Eight: 25)
