BOSTON – For the 11th-straight year, the 14th-ranked Wisconsin men's rowing team will return home with the Cochrane Cup after defeating MIT on Saturday morning.

The varsity eight crew finished with a time of six minutes and 2.1 seconds, to beat MIT who finished just seconds behind with a time of 6:04.0.

Unfortunately though, the same varsity eight crew fell to No.7 Boston University (BU) in the Jablonic Cup after finishing with a time of 6:12.2, just feet behind the Terriers who finished with a time of 6:11.0. This is the fourth-straight win for BU in the Jablonic Cup.

"The good news is that we raced really well," said head coach Chris Clark. "Every race we were ahead at least through 1500 in a 2000 meter race so we're about 75 percent there. Obviously we've been changing lineups a lot and I think Monday was the first time we ever had these lineups and I've really liked what I've seen from them. Just a little bit of time and some of their problems will solve themselves by just rowing together more.

"Overall, this is body wise, attitude wise, commitment wise, and academically, as good a group as I've ever had. They just have to believe in how good they can be."

In addition to the varsity eight crew, Wisconsin's second varsity eight and third varsity eight boats got a crack at Boston and MIT.

UW's second varsity eight boat got out to a quick lead and cruised to victory, but the race finished under protest as it was ruled that BU had to row in Wisconsin's wake. As a result, the teams agreed to re-race.

The Badgers didn't fare quite as well in the second race as they took second place as they crossed to 2000 meter mark at a time of 6:10.8. BU's second varsity eight boat finished with a time of 6:07.3 to win the race.

"The second varsity eight won their race as we were well ahead in open water but the coxswain from BU protested," explained head coach Chris Clark. "It probably could've just been allowed but it wasn't so we decided to redo the race and at that point our guys were a bit emotionally wrought and ended up losing that by about three and a half second."

Wisconsin's third varsity eight boat also finished second in their race with a time of 6:16.9 while BU's third varsity eight crew led the way with a time of 6:13.9.

"For the third varsity eight, I didn't get to see the whole race but it seemed like they raced hard and it looks like BU beat them by about two thirds of a length," added Clark. "They said they just couldn't quite close and fell apart a little bit but that'll change with more water time."

The Badgers will be back in action tomorrow morning as they take on No. 9 Northeastern in the Congram Cup.

Results
Cochrane Cup/Jablonic Cup
April 30, 2016
Boston, Mass.
2000 meters

Varsity Eight (Cochrane Cup)
1. Wisconsin, 6:02.1; 2. MIT, 6:04.0
Wisconsin Lineup: James Roen (cox), James Lueken, Tristan Amberger, Sam Weeks, George Perrett, Jonah Van Der Weide, Andrew Griffin, Laing Wise, Patrick Muto

Varsity Eight (Jablonic Cup)
1. Boston U., 6:11.0; 2. Wisconsin, 6:12.2
Wisconsin Lineup: James Roen (cox), James Lueken, Tristan Amberger, Sam Weeks, George Perrett, Jonah Van Der Weide, Andrew Griffin, Laing Wise, Patrick Muto

Second Varsity Eight (after protest)
1. Boston U., 6:07.3; 2. Wisconsin, 6:10.8; 3. MIT, 6:42.1
Wisconsin Lineup: Ben Flaherty (cox), Nikolas Montalvo, Jacob Hurlbutt, James Letten, James Bernard, Michael Knippen, Christoph Bub, Peter Ginouves, Michael Spankowski

Third Varsity Eight
1. Boston U., 6:13.9; 2. Wisconsin, 6:16.9; 3. Boston U., 6:22.4; 4. Boston U., 6:36.4
Wisconsin Lineup: Michael Callahan (cox), John Hollow, David McClain, Mark Nitka, Erik Kernozek, Andrew Flannery, John Goodman, John French, Theodore Boesen