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The Daily OrangeMROW | Varsity 8 retains Conlan Cup despite loss to Columbia
By Alexandra Rowley
Posted: 4/27/08, 10:42 PM EST Section: Sports
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"It's a big deal," the junior coxswain said about winning the cup. "It was tough to lose today, but Columbia is a fast crew. It was good to beat (Boston University) though."
Hubbell's mixed feelings came after the No. 11 Syracuse men's rowing Varsity Eight retained the Conlan Cup on Saturday for the third straight year by beating No. 17 Boston University. But the Orange finished second in its race, losing to No. 7 Columbia by three seconds.
The loss was the second for the Varsity Eight this season. It was the only loss of the day for SU as the second Varsity Eight as well as both freshman crews placed first in its races.
Sophomore Ryan Patton agreed retaining the Conlan Cup was rewarding but not good enough.
"It feels good," Patton said of beating BU. "We had a good race, but it would have been more satisfying if we had beat Columbia."
While the Orange might have had a good race, it did not start strong. The Lions and Terriers had quicker starts, which left SU behind.
"We weren't together," Hubbell said of Syracuse's start. "We weren't rowing as well as we usually do off the line."
The Orange eventually gained ground on BU and passed it for good, but could not overcome the deficit against Columbia. After 600 meters on the water, SU finally found its rhythm, but at that point it was too late.
"Once we came into quieter water in the last 1,200 meters our race got a lot better," Hubbell said. "The (stroke) rate came up to a 37 (strokes per minute), and we tried to walk back into Columbia, but they stayed strong and kept us off."
SU head coach Dave Reischman recognized the talent of the Columbia crew and is grateful his crew got to face that level of competition. Reischman said if a crew is always winning its races, then it can never know how fast it can really go. Reischman also hopes his crew learned something after having chased Columbia throughout the entire course.
"They're a very talented crew," Reischman said of Columbia. "My hat's off to them. They're doing a great job of building their program, and I can't say enough about the race they rode."
The Lions were successful at keeping their lead by maintaining a two-stroke advance over the Orange during the body of the race. Hubbell said that was one reason why Columbia kept the margin it had almost the entire time.
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Jake
posted 4/28/08 @ 10:49 AM EST
It's rowed, not rode, genius. (toward the bottom of p.1)
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