The Wisconsin men's rowing varsity eight defeated Dartmouth College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Saturday to claim the Cochrane Cup in Hanover, N.H.
With temperatures in the high 40s, a light rain and no wind, the Badgers won all three races in Hanover on a very Wisconsin kinda day"" according to head coach Chris Clark. The most impressive crew was the freshmen eight, which looked great despite the team's limited action so far this season.
""They only has a couple of races,"" Clark said. ""I didn't know what to expect, but they were very aggressive and looked good, real good.""
The freshmen eight finished with a time of 5:28.91, which was the second-fastest time on the day for Wisconsin, behind only the varsity eight result of 5:22.29 over 2000 meters. The freshmen eight's time was even faster than Dartmouth's varsity eight result.
""In the first and second varsity eights our approach was very similar to the freshmen,"" Clark added. ""In a multiple race weekend like this, if you are fortunate enough to get a lead it is important to maintain that lead and finish the race at that pace.""
The second varsity eight completed the sweep with a 5:30.55 to top Dartmouth's second varsity eight, which had a time of 5:43.77.
Sunday, the men's team traveled to Boston to race on the Charles River, defeating Boston University and MIT to win the Jablonic Cup and the team's sixth race of the weekend.
Under partly cloudy skies and a
temperature in the low 50s, Wisconsin's first varsity eight, second varsity eight and freshman eight all won, going 6-0 - something the team hasn't done since 1999 during this trip.
""It was a good day,"" Clark said. ""This is a difficult trip because there is a lot of traveling and it takes a lot out of you.""
The first varsity eight finished with a time of 5:43.0, which was more than 10 seconds faster than MIT and BU. The second varsity eight clocked 5:54.1, while the freshmen team had a time of 5:57.0.
""For the second day in a row the freshmen were aggressive,"" Clark said. ""It appears to be a pretty good group.""
The Badgers don't compete again until they travel back to the east coast for the EARC Championships on May 18 in Worcester, Mass.
""We have to make a big jump over the next few weeks to be prepared for the Eastern Sprints,"" said Clark. ""We certainly have a long way to go.""
- uwbadgers.com contributed to this report.
