Badgers surprisingly nimble on water.

Byline: John Conceison

COLUMN: EASTERN SPRINTS 

WORCESTER - It's not that Wisconsin rowing coach Chris Clark couldn't bear to watch.

"I missed the first 1,000, didn't see any of it, or even hear any of it," Clark said yesterday after his varsity heavyweight eights held off top-seeded Brown at the Eastern Sprints at Lake Quinsigamond.

Before he caught the final 1,000 meters, Clark had been tending to a situation caused by one of Wisconsin's rowers leaving on the headlights in one of their vans, one of the Badgers' very few mistakes for the day. Wisconsin also edged Brown for the Rowe Cup as the heavyweight points champion for the first time since taking the Sprints' first cup in 1946.

"That's our joke now, that we'd like to win it every six decades or so," Clark said.

While Wisconsin thrived, Harvard crews struggled. In the morning heats, the Crimson's defending varsity heavyweight champion boat missed qualifying for the grand final for the first time since 1963, and Harvard's lightweight varsity fell short of a Sprints grand final for the first time ever.

"There were a lot of good crews here and not a lot of margin for error," said Harvard coach Harry Parker, whose third-seeded varsity heavyweight boat finished behind Princeton and Yale in the morning trial - the three finishing within a second. "The varsity rowed a great race this morning, they just got caught. You row enough races, and eventually you're going to lose one."

In the second varsity heavyweight race, Harvard led Wisconsin by about a boat length for most of the race until a mis-stroke with 300 meters remaining enabled the Badgers to rally and take the race for the second year in a row.

"We know that we left everything in the water," said junior stroke Sam Kenary, a former rower at St. John's of Shrewsbury. "We bobbled a little, and we just sort of lost our boat speed and rhythm for three or four strokes, and that was enough to throw us off for the rest of the race."

Harvard's freshman heavyweight boat, coached by former Holy Cross rower Bill Manning, turned in the best time of the grand finals, covering the 2,000-meter course in 5 minutes, 57.64 seconds.

Wisconsin's varsity heavyweights posted the top time in the morning heats (5:57.43) over the 2,000-meter course. Princeton placed third in the grand final, followed by Yale, Northeastern and Columbia.

"This is a really light crew; they average 185 pounds, but they're utterly explosive on the front end," Clark said. "They're very quick. They have the best top-end speed of any team I've ever had. But I didn't know they had the sustainability."

The Badgers won the varsity heavyweight event for the first time since 2002.

"The secret is the personnel," Clark added. "When you have the right guys, it goes."

Clark notes this Badger boat had no problem focusing on the task at hand.

"These guys, I don't have to worry about them," he said. "They're really serious - some guys will joke around a lot, but these guys are dead serious.

"I joke a lot to try to loosen them up, but they weren't laughing much. Right before the race, after the heat, they were all business."

Navy, with sophomore Mike Hicks of Worcester in the third seat, won the varsity heavyweight petite final, outlasting Harvard by six-tenths of a second.

Holy Cross crews continue to make strides in their second year as a provisional member of the Eastern Association of Rowing Colleges. The heavyweight varsity boat placed third in yesterday's third final.

"It's a learning experience because we're a very young team," HC coach Tom Sullivan said. "We got faster every week, and that's what we try to do, to improve. Our showing today, we would've liked to be a little bit closer, but we're competitive.

"We have to keep getting better and try to get into the petite level and maybe someday make the final," he added.

Cornell won the Jope Cup for the overall lightweight title, its first since 1992. The Big Red tied Yale, the freshman lightweight winner, with 33 points but was awarded the cup by virtue of its varsity lightweight victory. Navy, which won the second varsity lightweights, was another point back with 32.

ART: PHOTOS

CUTLINE: (1) Columbia crew members look over at the Yale and Northeastern boats during the men's varsity heavyweight grand final at the 63rd Eastern Sprints. (2) Holy Cross digs in on its way to a third-place finish in the men's varsity 8 third final. (3) Harvard freshman heavyweight coach Bill Manning, a former Holy Cross rower, was tossed in the water after his team's win.

PHOTOG: T&G Staff/CHRISTINE PETERSON