UW Crew
Huskies boats reach finals

By Kevin Cranston
Special to The Seattle Times

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CAMDEN, N.J. — For the University of Washington men's varsity eight crew, it may not have been its best race, but it got the job done.

The Huskies yesterday won a semifinal to advance to the six-boat grand final at the 102nd Intercollegiate Racing Association national championships. They completed the 2,000-meter course in 5 minutes, 54.81 seconds, beating out Navy and Dartmouth on the Cooper River.

But the news wasn't all good.

"Their performance was very mediocre," said Huskies coach Bob Ernst. "I thought they had a rough first couple hundred meters, which we can't seem to get over. This group can go really fast, but they always tend to beat up on themselves a little bit in the first part of the race."

Washington and Navy emerged from the field at the start and quickly made it a two-boat race. The Huskies made the first move and gained a couple seats on the Midshipmen, who were able to counter.

With 1,300 meters remaining, Navy held a two-seat advantage. With 500 remaining, Washington evened up the race, and with one final push it regained the lead.

"We pretty much knew what Navy's tactics were going to be, and that's the way it unfolded," Ernst said. "Navy had us pegged, and they raced us tactically very well."

Although the Huskies' boat posted the fastest qualifying time, Ernst doesn't think his team is the clear favorite.

He has great respect for Harvard, which won its heat in 5:55.89 and beat UW last year in the grand final.

"That Harvard crew is really, really good," Ernst said. "Our goal is to be even with them somewhere in the middle of the course, and then we'll see how it goes."
 
Washington is looking for its first varsity eight national title since 1997.

The defending national champion varsity four continued its unbeaten season by edging George Washington by less than a second, 6:40.52 to 6:41.66, in a tough semifinal victory.

From the start, GW jumped on Washington, forcing the Huskies to play catch-up the rest of the way. With 500 meters remaining, the Huskies pulled even, but it took them another 400 to grab the lead from the fading Colonials.

Said stroke Seth Berling: "We just kind of laid it down and worked through them for the entire 2,000 meters and broke them by the end."

Washington's second varsity eight also claimed a semifinal victory, clocking a time of 6:10.14 to finish ahead of Harvard and Minnesota.

The Huskies trailed Harvard for most of the race but pulled even halfway through the third 500. UW then picked up a half-length advantage on Harvard, and the race was all but over.

"We did what we wanted to do," No. 7 seat Ben Fletcher said. "We just wanted to see what was up, test what was going on, make our moves and just try and win."

In Washington's two other races yesterday, the varsity pairs rowed 7:42.26 to qualify for the petite final, and the freshman eight put up a 6:11.8 to advance to the third-level final.