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Syracuse competed against the premier rowing programs on the East Coast Sunday at the EARC Eastern Sprints at Lake Quinsigamond State Park in Worcester, Massachusetts.

Last season, SU finished a program-best third at the EARC Eastern Sprints and earned its first medal at the Eastern Sprints in more than four decades when the varsity 8 finished third in the Grand Final.

The day kicked off with the fourth varsity 8, which raced against Dartmouth, Princeton, Navy and Holy Cross in the second heat of three fourth varsity heavyweight 8 races.

The Orange clinched a spot in the Grand Final after finishing second in the race (5:51.084), four seconds behind first place Yale (5:47.092). This was a 21.6-second improvement on their best time this season when they raced Dartmouth at the Lake Morey Invitational.

The Grand Final consists of the top two teams from the three heats for all boats.

The third varsity 8 claimed third place in the first heat of the third varsity heavyweight 8 races. No. 8 Syracuse was slated against No. 5 Princeton, No. 9 Boston University, No. 14 Wisconsin and No. 16 Georgetown.

Princeton (5:40.911) beat out BU by 0.828 seconds (5:41.739) and SU (5:43.057) by 2.596 seconds, moving the Tigers and Terriers into the Grand Final and the Orange into the Petite Final.

The Petite Final consisted of all teams that placed lower than second, but not last, in the three heats for all boats. The third final consisted of the three teams who finished last in their heat.

The varsity 8 faced No. 3 Harvard, No. 10 Dartmouth, No. 14 Cornell and No. 19 Georgetown in the second heat of the varsity heavyweight 8. In past weeks, the V8+ beat Dartmouth and Georgetown at the Lake Morey Invitational and Cornell for the Goes Trophy.

No. 7 Syracuse (5:30.559) finished second, 1.16 seconds behind the Crimson, and only beat Dartmouth (5:30.6) by 0.041 seconds to secure a place in the Grand Final.

Beck Honebein and Lachlan Doust were a part of the varsity 8 boat.

Honebein has consistently been a part of the second varsity 8 setup for the majority of the season as a freshman, while Doust — who was named as one of 24 Division I Rowers to watch this season — raced in the varsity 8 boat for the first time this season because of a previous injury.

In the final race in the morning, the second varsity 8 punched its ticket to the Grand Final after finishing second in the second heat of the second varsity heavyweight 8 races.

No. 10 Syracuse (5:33.559) finished above No. 7 Boston University, No. 13 Columbia and No. 18 Wisconsin and narrowly lost to No. 4 Harvard by 0.184 seconds.

The afternoon races were filled with finals, based on the morning results.

Yale took home the victory in the fourth varsity 8 Grand Final, 13.818 seconds ahead of last-place Syracuse. Brown, Dartmouth, Pennsylvania and Boston University took places two through five.

The third varsity 8 won the Petite Final with a time of 5:47.140. The 3V8+ was 2.488 seconds in front of second place No. 12 Northeastern. No. 10 Cornell, Navy, No. 11 Pennsylvania and No. 14 Wisconsin completed the standings.

The second varsity 8 finished fourth in the Grand Final with a 5:38.938 time. The Orange were 0.312 seconds away from a podium finish, narrowly losing to No. 9 Dartmouth. No. 5 Princeton placed first with a 5:34.498 time, four seconds ahead of SU.

To finish off the weekend, the V8+ finished sixth (5:34.710) in the ​​varsity heavyweight 8 Grand Final. No. 10 Brown took home the victory over No. 1 Princeton and No. 3 Harvard with a 5:28.639 time, nearly six seconds over Syracuse.

No. 5 Yale, No. 9 Pennsylvania and No. 8 Northeastern finished third, fifth and seventh, respectively.

Published on May 19, 2024 at 8:20 pm

Contact Quinn: qdpostma@syr.edu