WORCESTER – Under sunny skies with a slight wind, the Northeastern men's rowing team kicked off the postseason both the first and second varsity boats reaching the Grand Final, highlighted by a third finish from the 1V on Sunday afternoon on Lake Quinsigamond.
Sunday's performance marked the first time since 2019 that both the 1V and 2V reached the Grand Final at Sprints. The first varsity's bronze medal finish marked the first time the Huskies have reached the podium since 2015, while the second varsity's fourth place finish was the Huskies' best 2V position in nearly a decade. All four Northeastern boats finished at or above their seeds entering the championship as the Huskies placed third in the final Rowe Cup team standings to earn automatic qualification to the IRA Championships later this month.
After holding off Yale in the morning heat to secure a spot in the Grand Final, the first varsity got out to a lightning fast start in the afternoon race, leading the field through most of the first 1000 meters. Princeton and Harvard were lurking, though, eventually overtaking the Huskies for the lead with Northeastern solidly in third position. As Harvard and Princeton moved away, the Huskies found themselves in a battle for bronze against Dartmouth with the finish line in sight. But coxswain
Alex Stamas and stroke
Krystof Janac kept their cool, keeping Northeastern in rhythm down the stretch to hold off the Big Green and earn a medal for the first time in more than a decade.
The second varsity, seeded sixth entering the regatta, edged Penn by 0.006 seconds in the morning heat to earn a spot in the Grand Final and went up against Princeton, Harvard, Syracuse, Dartmouth and Brown in the afternoon session, with all boats overlapped through the opening 500-meters. As Princeton, Harvard and Syracuse tried to move away from the field in the second 500 by half a length, Northeastern and coxswain
Connor Burke hung tough to stay within striking distance. The Huskies turned it up in the third 500, narrowing the gap in an effort to chase down Syracuse and land on the podium. Syracuse would hold on to take the bronze, however, with Northeastern in fourth for its best 2V finish at Sprints since 2018.
After narrowly finishing a spot in the Grand Final after its morning heat, the third varsity found themselves in a battle with crosstown rival Boston University in the Petite Final. The crews were neck and neck down the course before the Huskies, coxed by
Nick Walding turned it on down the stretch to edge the Terriers by 0.144 seconds for the victory.
A fourth-place finish in its morning heat sent the fourth varsity to the afternoon Petite Final where the Huskies lined up with Brown and others. There, it was the Huskies and Bruno who quickly turned it into a two-boat race with Northeastern paced by coxswain
AJ Hwangbo and
Marcus Mantecon in the stroke seat. It came down to the final few strokes where Brown eventually edged NU at the line by just 0.322 seconds to give Northeastern a second-place finish.
The Huskies will now turn their attention to the IRA National Championships, which will be held in Gold River, Calif. beginning on Friday, May 29.
