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April 16, 2011

BOSTON - The University of Louisville rowing team's second varsity eight boat earned wins over Boston University and Northeastern University during the first day of racing on Saturday at the Charles River Challenge.

Despite challenging conditions on the Charles River, the Cardinals' 2V8+ crew had a time of 6 minutes, 55.8 seconds to finish more than five seconds clear of second-place Boston at 7:01.5 and Northeastern in third at 7:06.6.

"Going into the race, we knew Northeastern was showing very good speed and that it would be side-by-side the entire way down the course and it was exactly that," said Cardinals' head coach Laura Aubrey. "Going into the last 500 meters, we took about two seats just as Northeastern caught an over-the-head boat stopping crab. It was really disappointing to see that because I would have really loved to see how that would have played out.

"I am very proud of the 2V8's effort in today's race against Northeastern and Boston. They stayed composed under the pressure. They stayed within their boat and responded well to Northeastern's challenges. The 2V8 showed great maturity and I am continually pleased with the progress they are making and how they are growing as a crew. We still have some hurdles to get over, but I feel we are moving in the right direction."

In other races on Saturday, the Cardinals' varsity eight boat finished with a time of 6:52.4 to place third behind Northeastern (6:41.9) and Boston University (6:48.5), while the varsity four crew had a time of 8:14.7 to place third behind Northeastern (7:37.2) and BU (7:41.1). Louisville's third varsity eight crew was second with a time of 7:15.6 to defeat Boston University at 7:20.9 and trail Northeastern at 7:06.0, while the Cards' second varsity four boat had fourth-place finish with a time of 9:02.6 to trail BU (7:53.9), Radcliffe (8:06.4) and Syracuse (8:27.1).

"The varsity eight and varsity four crews had very challenging races on Saturday," Aubrey said. "Both the varsity eight and varsity four boats took on a considerable amount of water and had almost eight inches of water inside the boat coming down the course. There is no way to know how much this slowed us down, but it clearly had an affect on our speed. The girls did their best to keep their heads in the game, but in the end, we simply could not overcome the challenge. We hope to have the opportunity to redeem ourselves in Sunday's races and truly see what our speed is against our competitors."