By Guy D. Schoonmaker

The Northeastern women’s crew team raced against some of the top schools in the nation, finishing fourth in the San Diego Crew Classic this past weekend at Crew Point shores in Mission Bay, Calif.

The varsity boat competed on Saturday and came in fourth in the Jessop-Whittier Cup with a time of 6:2.24, leaving them just short of qualifying for the cup final. The University of California-Berkley won the race, finishing with a time of 6:23.8.

The first round of the Jessop-Whittier Cup contained two races, with the top three teams from each race moving on to the Grand Final. The rest of the teams, including Northeastern, raced in the Petite Final held on Sunday.

Head coach Joe Wilhelm said he didn’t think his boats raced to their potential on Saturday.

“It’s a very fast field out there, and both crews got behind early. We raced a little bit tentative,” he said.

This time, in a group of six, Northeastern came in second place at 6:37.09, only a half-length behind Stanford’s 6:35.8. That placed the varsity boat eighth overall in a field of 12.

“Stanford is the No. 7 team in the nation, and we were with them the whole way,” Wilhelm said. “I felt we raced a lot better on Sunday.”

The Huskies’ Junior Varsity team fared the same as the varsity. On Saturday, they competed for the Jackie Ann Stitt Hungness Trophy. The Huskies needed to place in the top two of their race to make it to the Cup Final, but again they fell one spot shy of making it by placing third, clocking in at 6:48.86. The Golden Bears of California were the victors once again with a time of 6:38.2.

On Sunday, the JV squad finished second in the petite race at 7:00.91 compared to Notre Dame’s 6:56. This gave the boat an eighth place finish among the 17 competing teams.

Northeastern will be at Onondaga Lake in New York next weekend competing against Syracuse University and the University of Pennsylvania.