By Guy D. Schoonmaker

Racing without their stroke seat, the women’s crew still managed to beat out Columbia University in The Woodbury Cup on the Charles River this weekend.

Freshman stroke Pia Zubrowski came down with tonsillitis during the week and ended up with a fever of 102 degrees. Sophomore Ashley Bruno was moved from the four seat to take her place.

“She did a great job,” head coach Joe Wilhelm said. “She was a really good stroke.”

The Huskies took an early lead and held on to it for the rest of the race. At the 500 meter mark they held a half-length lead, and extended it to a full length by the half-way point of the 2000-meter race. Northeastern crossed the finish line with a time of 7:11.7 followed by Columbia at 7:17.2.

The Lions, ranked No. 20 in the nation by the Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association, were coached by Wilhelm from 1983 to 1992 before he joined Northeastern.

“I thought they rowed a really aggressive race, but not a great race,” he said. “They didn’t have the rhythm they usually have, but what they lacked in rhythm they made up with heart. They really gutted it out.”

The second varsity boat came in 1.7 seconds behind the Lions in their race. Columbia got off to a good start and held off strong pushes by Northeastern throughout the race.

Northeastern’s second varsity boat was racing without senior captain Devon Gracey, who was put on the varsity eight to fill in for Zubrowski.

The men’s team, also racing on the Charles, fell to the Brown Bears on Saturday in the Dreissigacker Cup. Brown got off to a fast start by gaining a boat-length lead by the 500 meter mark.

The Huskies fell two lengths behind before they made a push to catch up with the Bears. Brown answered and pulled away to win by 6.3 seconds. Brown finished the race with a time of 6:02.7 and Northeastern came in at 6:09.

“We didn’t have the race we were hoping to have,” said senior captain Will Miller. “We are still in a learning phase; I don’t think that result reflects our speed at all.”

Northeastern came into the race winning their last four matches against the Bears in the Dreissigacker. Brown, ranked No. 7 in the nation coming into the meet, holds the series lead at 22-20.

The second varsity boat for the men came out victorious, finishing the 2000-meter race with a time of 6:24.4. Brown’s second varsity was close behind at 6:26.9.