By Isabelle Hahn, news staff

Northeastern women’s rowing finished second overall at the Doc Hosea Invitational in Camden, New Jersey, on Sunday, with the first and second varsity eights finishing third while racing for the Orange Challenge Cup.

The Orange Challenge Cup is one of the oldest trophies in women’s rowing, and the larger Doc Hosea Invitational, named after longtime U.S. National Rowing team doctor Timothy Hosea, has been built around the cup. The 10 competing crews rowed in honor of Hosea and his immense contributions to the sport within the United States.

Syracuse University wrested the inaugural trophy from last year’s victors, the University of Pennsylvania (Penn), who finished third overall.

The varsity eight shaved seven seconds off their time in the preliminary round and finished third in the Grand Final behind Syracuse and the University of Pennsylvania with a time of 6 minutes and 35.19 seconds. Syracuse took the lead in the first 500 meters leaving the Huskies with a slight advantage over Penn. The crews held positions through the middle 1,000, but in the final 500, Syracuse (6:30.4) extended their lead while Penn (6:34.46) overtook the Huskies in the final few strokes.

“I like how aggressively our crew rowed in the final,” said Northeastern’s head coach Joe Wilhelm. “We didn’t execute the last 500 meters very well. The crew had a couple of bad strokes, but it was very close. Penn and Syracuse are very good teams. Being able to race toe-to-toe with them is pretty encouraging.”

The second varsity eight secured third in the grand final with a time of 6:52.09 behind Syracuse (6:43.01) and University of Rhode Island (6:51). Syracuse held the lead position early on while Rhode Island and Northeastern rowed level the entire race, with half a length on Penn.

“Rhode Island raced really hard this race. I was encouraged by our second varsity losing to Penn last week then coming back and beating them by four seconds this weekend,” Wilhelm said.

The loss to Penn last weekend at the Murphy Cup only intensified the second varsity eight’s preparation and desire for victory.

“Syracuse and Penn are very good teams and great competitors. I knew going into the race that it would be a race we would have to fight for,” said freshman Richie Costa. “We knew we had to step our game up in the final to beat Penn and try to go after Syracuse.”

The varsity four and second varsity four also advanced to the grand final. Varsity four came in fourth with a time of 7:42.94 behind Navy, University of Minnesota, Syracuse and Penn, while the second varsity four (8:03.74) held third behind Syracuse and Penn.

“Overall, our team had a really strong showing. Across the board, we made huge steps in the right direction from the prior weekend in terms of boat speed and cohesion amongst our lineups,” said junior Marina Remick. “We’ll continue to grind throughout the week so when we’re sitting at the start alongside our next opponents, whomever that may be, we’ll be ready. No questions asked.”