By Guy D. Schoonmaker

The men’s crew team placed fourth in the Eastern Sprints on Sunday, finishing behind Princeton, Harvard and Brown.

The Huskies came in second in their first race on Lake Quinsigamond in Worcester, finishing two seconds behind Brown with a time of 6:11.5. By finishing second in the race, the team earned a spot in the Grand Final.

Again Brown barely edged out Northeastern, this time finishing only one second in front of the Huskies. Princeton took first in the race, with Harvard finishing three seconds behind to take second.

“We had a good race; we raced as hard as we could,” said senior captain Will Miller. “It would have been nice to squeeze out a medal, but there are a lot of fast boats out there, and that’s just the way it goes.”

The fourth-place finish gave the Huskies 30 points in this year’s Rowe Cup Standings, leaving them behind only Harvard (37) and Princeton (31).

The women’s team came in eighth last week on the Cooper River in New Jersey in their Eastern Sprints.

The Huskies fell to Princeton and Radcliffe in their first heat. Northeastern was nine seconds behind Radcliffe by the end of the race, and 17 seconds behind the victorious Tigers. The third-place finish sent the Huskies to the Petite Final.

“I was a little disappointed with the way the Varsity Eight rowed in the morning,” said head coach Joe Wilhelm. “I don’t know what it was, but we are capable of racing faster than that.”

In the Petite Final, Northeastern placed second behind a Columbia team they defeated earlier in the year. The Huskies clocked in at 7:16.1, about 3.5 seconds behind the Lions.

“Our goal for the season was to put everyone in the Finals,” Wilhelm said. “We almost accomplished that.”

Wilhelm’s team finished fifth overall in the New England/Mid-Atlantic bracket, a group of about 45 teams.

“Overall this was one of our best performances ever.” Wilhelm said.