Northeastern captures Arlett Cup
The Northeastern heavyweight men's crew took a step toward a fourth straight regular-season winning campaign on the chilly Charles River yesterday morning as it captured the Arlett Cup, defeating archrival Boston University.
The Cup is named after the late Ernie Arlett, NU's first coach. NU leads the series, 22-7, and overall is 37-10 against the Terriers.
The Husky varsity, 4-1 in dual competition the past three years, displayed all the attributes a successful program needs as it rallied after being down four seconds over the 2,000-meter course. NU's varsity was clocked in 6:03.4 while BU, which led by a length after 600 meters, registered a 6:07.3, a length astern.
The Huntington Hounds also captured the second varsity and freshman events for a clean sweep. NU broomed the Terriers last year, too. The NU freshmen breezed, 6:11.3 to 6:22.7, and the JV crew won with ease, 6:12.7 to 6:18.2.
''I'm satisfied," said sixth-year NU coach John Pojednic. ''We did a good job from start to finish and now our goal is to improve every week, as it is every year. We have our best depth in years and that's a luxury."
NU's varsity displayed potential a week ago when it took on three of North America's strongest crews in the Windemere Classic at Redwood Shores, Calif. The Huskies bowed to the University of British Columbia by a half-length, to Washington by a length, and to powerful California (third in the IRA last season) by 2 lengths.
''That was a good test for us," said Pojednic. ''We sort of found out where we were against great opponents. Having that experience helped us today.
''I'll tell you, that was one of our most rewarding races. BU had open water on us at about 600 meters and that was cause for concern. Then my guys just put it all together. We were even after 1,500 meters and just kept rowing hard.
''I think BU showed a lot of class in its first race of the season and BU certainly gave us a run for the money."
BU coach Rodney Pratt observed, ''I thought we were doing very well at the start and in the early going when I saw us up by seven seats in just our first race. But you have to credit Northeastern for the way it rallied."
