The Wisconsin men's rowing team enjoyed a highly successful weekend at the Charles River Course in Boston, where they won five out of a total six events at the Cochrane Cup Saturday and at the Jablonic Cup Sunday.
Smooth weather conditions Saturday helped the eighth-ranked Badgers sweep Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Dartmouth in all three events, with the varsity eight, the freshman eight and the second varsity eight all coming out on top.
""It went well today,"" Wisconsin head coach Chris Clark said. ""Each race was a little different from the next.""
The varsity eight finished in 6 minutes 12.43 seconds—10 seconds ahead of second place Dartmouth, which finished in 6:22.31. MIT came in last in 6:31.45.
""In the 1V we got out like a shot, very quickly, and popped out of the hole at about 49 strokes per minute and then we slowly pulled away,"" Clark said.
In the next race, the freshman eight clocked 6:26.50, nearly 20 seconds ahead of Dartmouth who finished second with a time of 6:43.45. MIT came in last with a time of 7:00.97.
The third event of the morning saw the second varsity eight streak past Dartmouth as they clocked a 6:22.22, ahead of Dartmouth's 6:50.84 finish. MIT did not participate in the event.
""In the 2V, we moved pretty quickly into the lead, from the first stroke,"" Clark said. ""The race was in their hands by a couple hundred meters. It was an excellent race for them.""
Sunday, the Badgers overcame the heady wind and rough conditions to win two of three events against Boston University and MIT at the Jablonic Cup.
The varsity eight won the first event of the day with a time of 5:55.30. Boston finished second at 6:08.90, while MIT rounded out the competitors with a time of 6:25.
""Our ones were very quick today,"" Clark said. ""We knew we wanted to get out ahead quickly because the water was getting rougher and it's difficult to come back in that type of situation. It was a good win for our guys.""
Still unbeaten this season, the second varsity eight continued their winning streak after they beat Boston University by more than 20 seconds. The Badgers clocked a 6:01.7 while BU finished at 6:24.5.
The freshman eight race was marred by a series of disruptions, and the races was restarted at four different points of the course before the event could be concluded. Official timings were eventually taken from the first race, with the Badgers narrowly finishing second behind Boston University.
""Under tough conditions like that we were lucky to do even anything,"" Clark said. ""In my mind it was essentially a no-decision. It was a crazy race and inconclusive as to what the true outcome was. Two different versions of the race were stopped and one was based on us getting stuck at the line and not starting with the command and the fourth one was a 20-stroke piece.""
Wisconsin will compete again next weekend when it travels back East for the EARC Championships in Worcester, Mass.
""Today's race was good and now we have to immediately focus on Eastern Sprints which is where our focus has been all along,"" Clark said. ""We've got to get home and in the short time we have, do some hard work.""
—uwbadgers.com
contributed to this report.
