| CREW ROUNDUP
Heavy favorite prevails Harvard proves best in its class By Bob Monahan, Globe Correspondent, 4/25/2004 Sure things: death and taxes. An almost sure thing: Harvard wins the Adams Cup. Harvard's heavyweight crew, displaying smoothness, power, poise, and the precision of a Swiss watch, captured the Adams Cup for the 42d time in 69 years on the Charles River yesterday morning. The Crimson covered the 2,000-meter course in 6:03.8, with Navy (6:12.3) and Penn (6:24.6) in their wake. Penn has captured the Adams Cup 14 times and Navy 13. Harvard, undefeated and ranked No. 1 in the country, faces undefeated Northeastern next week on the Charles for the Smith Cup. Their next meeting after that should be in the finals of the Eastern Sprints May 16 at Worcester. Harvard is ranked No. 1 in the Eastern Association of Rowing Colleges, and Northeastern is third. Yesterday, the Huskies defeated No. 10 Rutgers, 6:10.6 to 6:12.3. The race was much closer than expected, mostly because NU has been in exams the past 10 days. Boston University, ranked 10th, dispatched Columbia by 6 lengths. The Terriers streaked to the finish line in 6:19.7 to Columbia's 6:41.2. The BU freshmen also romped, 6:29.5 to 6:42.1. Harvard is loaded; its varsity, second varsity, and freshmen all are ranked No. 1 in the EARC, so yesterday's sweep wasn't a surprise. The second varsity posted a 6:13 time ahead of Navy (6:27) and Penn (6:37), and the freshmen recorded a 6:22.3 to better Navy (6:34.7) and Penn (6:37.3). Harvard coach Harry Parker, in his 42d season, said, "We rowed a strong, solid race. It was a very good row. Navy was with us for the first two minutes and they rowed well. That's when we started to pull ahead and we had open water at 1,000 meters." NU coach John Pojednic remarked, "That headwind bothered us a bit. Rutgers has a lot of big people and they handled it better than we did. "Both crews got off to a good start and we were even for a while. We went ahead by 6 seats between 900 and 1,100 meters and we looked pretty good. Rutgers made a great rally in the final 300 meters and made it a close race." The NU oarsmen have been a bit subpar the last two Saturdays. "We have a new academic schedule this year," said Pojednic. "The last 10 days we've been in exams and it has been difficult getting in quality practice time. We have graduation next Saturday. But now we'll have time to try and gain more speed before we race Harvard, which is looking very good." BU coach Rodney Pratt offered, "We made a lot of changes within our boat and we rowed well. Only two oarsmen were in the same seats they had a week ago. I feel we rowed well and improved over a week ago." BU hosts Wisconsin a week from today. In women's action, the main event was the local test between NU and BU, with Notre Dame as a guest. Notre Dame, however, stole the show and romped to victory in 6:55.5 to win the Women's Council Cup. BU posted a 6:57.3 and NU a 7:11.3. BU won the second varsity and novice races. This story ran on page C2 of the Boston Globe on 4/25/2004. © Copyright 2003 Globe Newspaper Company. |
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