The No. 7 Northeastern men’s rowing team finished fourth in the Benderson Cup standings at the Sarasota 2K, held at Nathan Benderson Park on March 28. The Huskies placed fifth in the first varsity race against some of the top collegiate crews.
The event brought together six nationally ranked teams, making for close competition throughout the weekend. Northeastern’s head coach Alex Perkins said, “This is a great event every year. We knew there would be a high level of competition today. We made a few tweaks from yesterday, and the guys made some good progress in parts of the race. There are a few parts that we need to work on, but that’s what we expect. This is our 20th day on the water, so I was proud of the way the team raced as a whole.”
In addition to their fifth-place finish in first varsity (1V), Northeastern’s second varsity (2V) boat came in fourth while third varsity (3V) reached third place behind Harvard and Washington, securing enough points for an overall fourth-place team finish ahead of Stanford and Yale.
Racing was tight across all events with Harvard and Washington leading early in both first and second varsity races. In first varsity, Northeastern battled closely with Stanford before finishing fifth with a time of 5:56.05 after Brown surged ahead over the final stretch.
The second varsity crew crossed at 5:56.73 after fighting off Stanford down the stretch to secure fourth place behind Brown, Harvard, and Washington.
After winning its heat Friday with one of day’s fastest times, Northeastern’s third varsity started strong again Saturday before taking third place overall with a time of 6:07.69.
Northeastern will next compete at home on Boston’s Charles River against Boston University for the Arlett Cup.
