By Kirby Morrison, News Staff

Women’s crew opened the season’ Saturday with an impressive second place finish in the opening race of the 2009 regatta season. Northeastern finished the Charles River course in 7:43.7, trailing only Dartmouth who finished in 7:38.7.’ Rhode Island and Boston College posted times of 7:57.0 and 7.57.6, respectively. Northeastern placed second in the second Varsity boat as well, and finished third in both the Varsity 4 boat and the Novice boat.
Coach Joe Wilhelm said he was proud of his team for battling rough conditions during the meet.
‘This was our first race of the season,’ Wihelm said. ‘Our focus was on having a strong, clean first race. Despite really challenging conditions, all of our crews rowed well, establishing good boat speed’ and maintaining it throughout the race. We will hone our racing skills and strategy over the next six weeks, but this was a good beginning.’
The crew will travel to Syracuse, NY next weekend to race in the Orange Cup vs. Syracuse and’ Pennsylvania. The Orange Cup is one of the oldest in women’s collegiate rowing.
‘Both Syracuse and Penn are good programs and have had good starts to their season,’ Wilhelm said. ‘This will be a good test of our speed as we head into the [Colonial Athletic Association] championships on April 18.’
Despite a loss to Dartmouth this weekend, Northeastern is focused and has its sights set on taking down Dartmouth and the rest of the field at the EAWRC Championships.
‘The Varsity 8 rowed the race we had expected,’ Wilhelm said. ‘Technically it was a very clean race, despite heavy wind and water conditions. They executed the race plan well, and rowed with toughness and resolve. Today, Dartmouth was just faster than we were. We look forward to racing them again at the EAWRC Championships on May 17.’