Wisconsin Badgers
Northeastern (Congram Cup)
Second varsity boat finds success against Northeastern
April 30, 2017 | Men's Rowing
UW drops the Congram Cup for the fifth-straight year
BOSTON, Mass. – Racing for the second consecutive day on the Charles River, the 13th-ranked Badgers contested No. 9 Northeastern in hopes to gain the Congram Cup.
With an extremely strong wind, the waters grew choppy and the Badgers were forced to think on their feet. As a result, only one of the three UW boats were able to cross the finish line first. Northeastern claimed the first and third varsity eight events, while Wisconsin won the second varsity race.
The third varsity led off the day, finishing with a time of five minutes and 53.1 seconds. Northeastern finished moments before at 5:51.9. Â
"I sigh a little bit because we had that race," Head Coach Chris Clark said. "We took the lead with about 500 (meters) to go just by a few feet or two. Our guys never really looked like they were willing to close and then NU came back and beat us by just a bit."
The second varsity raced next in a similar scenario, but the Badgers were able to take the lead and keep that momentum until the very end. Led by outstanding coxing, the Badgers outraced the Huskies with a time of 5:40.3.
"You have a general race plan, but depending on the conditions and what your competitors are doing, often that goes completely out the window," Clark added. "You have to have a coxswain who's clever enough to make a move and call an audible, and he (James Roen) did at just the right time."
"When it looked like they were trying to break away early in the race, and we countered them, came back, passed them and then called the last 500 (meters) perfectly. When you're in a position of strength like we were you just ride it and let them come at you and then take it home in the last verse, which we did and we won so it was tight," Clark noted.
In the final race of the day, the race for the Congram Cup, Northeastern pulled away with a comfortable victory. With wind at full force, the inexperience of UW's first varsity squad could not handle the water as well as its slick Northeastern competitor.
"We took the lead off the start, but immediately in the rough water, bouncing around it was tough," Clark said. "Every time our guys mounted a charge, and they mounted a number of them, they immediately caught water. Not full crabs, but nonetheless enough to stop momentum, and it kept happening and happening and then they finally started charging at the end and then 200 meters to go they did it again. So they were disappointed, but disappointed in a different way, knowing they put up a good effort, but you can't just keep doing that down the course."
Despite a difficult day of racing, both the second and first varsity boats improved their times on the Charles River.
"It was quick. So excellent racing," Clark said.
Wisconsin now takes two weeks off from racing before heading to Worcester, Massachusetts for the Eastern Sprints. With some time off, the Badgers will work on improving their water time to ensure they give their best effort at Sprints.
Congram Cup
Boston, Mass.
April 30, 2017
2,000 meters
Men's Varsity Eight (Congram Cup)
1. Northeastern, 5:39.3; 2. Wisconsin, 5:41.6
Wisconsin Lineup: Michael Callahan (cox), Nick Montalvo, Laing Wise, Andrew Griffin, James Bernard, Tristan Amberger, Jonah Van der Weide, Kyle McCarthy, Erik Kernozek
Men's Second Varsity
1. Wisconsin, 5:40.3; 2. Northeastern, 5:41.3
Wisconsin Lineup: James Roen (cox), John Hollow, Alexander Butler, Nathan Petersen, Sam Weeks, Andrew Flannery, James Lueken, Alex Idarraga, Thomas Walker
Men's Third Varsity
1. Northeastern, 5:51.9; 2. Wisconsin, 5:53.1
Wisconsin Lineup: Theodore Van Beek (cox), Dylan Adams, Steve Knopp, Kyle James, Graham Mink, Zach Ruedinger, Jacob Hurlbutt, Timothy Glennon, Christoph Bub
Players Mentioned
