Wisconsin Men's Rowing Captures Third-Straight Cochrane Cup
May 01, 2004 | Men's Rowing
Wisconsin men's rowing continued its unbeaten season today, winning the varsity eight against No. 11 Dartmouth and M.I.T. for the school's third consecutive Cochrane Cup. Wisconsin also won the second varsity eight and freshmen eight races on the Charles River.
Named after Admiral Edward L. Cochrane, former president of M.I.T., and director of Navy's Bureau of Ships, the Cochrance Cup is awarded to the winner of the annual varsity eight race between Wisconsin, Dartmouth and M.I.T. First raced in 1961, Wisconsin now leads the trophy count with 27 of the 44 races.
This year, the Badgers jumped out to a lead from the first stroke, but Dartmouth fought and kept within three seats at 500 meters. The Big Green then crept back to within two seats by 1000 meters.
'At that point, I believe we were rowing a little lower than they were - very under control,' said head coach Chris Clark. 'At the bridge, which is at 950 to go, we pushed and that was it. Within probably 100 meters we had open water. Going into the last 500 meters we led by a little bit of open water. We brought it in at 35 or 36 strokes per minute, just very controlled.'
'They pressed hard, Dartmouth did. It was touch and go for the first half, then we managed to break it away. It was a good race. Dartmouth is always an extremely tough competitor who has a tendency to peak later in the season so they are similar to us. Anytime we can leave with a victory, whether its in Madison, Boston or in Hanover, we're happy.'
The No. 6 Badgers won the race in 6:17.3, with Dartmouth second in 6:24.8 and M.I.T., third in 6:45.0.
Wisconsin also won the second varsity eight and freshmen eight races, taking victories by over 20 seconds in each event. The Badgers' clocked a 6:38.6 to Dartmouth's 6:59.0 in the second varsity eight, then raced to a 6:43.2 in the freshmen eight, just over 20 seconds better than Dartmouth's 7:03.8.
'The second varsity eight and freshmen eight were nearly identical races,' Clark said. 'We got out to the early lead on pretty rough water. They just moved out, and that was it - just a steady moving out.'
Wisconsin returns to the water tomorrow for the Jablonic Cup against No. 15 Boston University and M.I.T. Racing again takes place on the Charles River in Boston.
