Imperfect race puts UW crew 4th at nationals

CHERRY HILL, N.J. — Washington crew coach Bob Ernst knew his varsity eight team had to execute a perfect race yesterday to have a prayer against heavyweights Harvard, Princeton and California.

It didn't.

After falling behind early, the Huskies pulled even with the leaders but ran out of gas in the final 1,000 meters and finished a distant fourth at the Intercollegiate Rowing Association Championships on the Cooper River.

Washington posted a time of 5 minutes, 37.70 seconds in the 2,000-meter race, while Harvard won in 5:31.68, its third straight national title. Princeton (5:32.94) and California (5:35.9) were second and third, respectively.

It has been eight years since the Huskies celebrated its varsity eight on the awards stand in the distant shadows of Philadelphia.

"We went from September until now to get to this race," Ernst said. "We have a good program, but some years other schools are going to have two or three or four more quality athletes than we have, and maybe fourth is the best we can do."

That was a tough pill to swallow for senior oarsman Brett Newlin, who was on the varsity eight boat that finished second to Harvard last year. Newlin, who will row for the U.S. national team this summer, rowed his final UW race yesterday.

"It is tough not to have your best race on the last day," said Newlin. "It's really tough to see your junior varsity do so well and rise to the challenge and the varsity not quite follow suit."

Indeed, the junior varsity eight, which had an 18-race win streak snapped on Thursday, rallied from a half-boat length back to beat Cornell by less than two-tenths of a second and win the 103-year-old Kennedy Challenge Cup for the second straight year and 20th time overall.

"Mentally, I think it was a big feat to be able to come back after losing two days in a row," said Huskies senior Scott Schmidt. "We knew from stroke one we needed a perfect race, and that's the best race we ever had."

The victory gave junior varsity bow man Evan Galloway his fourth gold medal in as many visits to the IRA regatta. The senior, a product of Bainbridge Island High School, won a national title with the open four crew in 2002 before rowing in UW's back-to-back champion varsity four in 2003 and 2004.

"It feels great," he said. "It just goes to show how many good boats I've been a part of."

Washington's open four crew also won its grand final, giving the Huskies two appearances on the IRA gold-medal stand for the second straight year.

As sweet as those victories were, a team is judged by its varsity eight boat.

For a few minutes of that race, Washington stayed even with Harvard, Princeton and Cal.

"We knew [Harvard and Princeton] were going to make their move at about 800 meters," Newlin said, "and we tried to go with them but we couldn't seem to hold on," he said. "When we tried to take it up in the last 700 meters we didn't do it together, so in that sense it was disappointing."

With the loss of four seniors from the varsity eight, including coxswain Steven Hertzfeld, Ernst said he expects the challenge to beat Harvard and Princeton will be even more difficult next year.

"Harvard and Princeton are better than we are," Ernst said. "There's no gap closing. You have to fight every year just to get to the top three."