National Champions! Part Three

Despite having to work their way into the Grands via the repechage, Varsity bowman Gerry Henwood and the rest of the crew knew their boat was comprised of guys who had won at the IRAs before in Drew Harrison’s victorious 1976 and 1977 crews, along with seniors Bill Reid, Andy Mogish, future Olympian Bill Purdy, Tom Evancie, and Dave Townsley who all had won silver as freshmen. If anything, the reps had helped the crew get just a bit more racing experience, a big help after the late-season injury to sophomore stroke Art Sibley had resulted in a line-up shift for the Packard Cup against Dartmouth

Weather for the finals featured a headwind causing the first thousand to be either “pretty” or “very” choppy depending on who’s recalling the conditions. The Varsity Grand Final would be the last race of the day, and there was lots of racing to be done before the closing event. In the first of the eights races, Drew Harrison’s freshman eight successfully defended its national championship, handily defeating Northeastern with Cornell coming in third. This was becoming a typical SU freshman performance, with the crew gaining considerable speed at IRA camp and defeating crews that had beaten them earlier in the season. Northeastern had won the Sprints, and the victory was sweet indeed for the Orange frosh. As the bemedaled and beaming freshman eight pulled away from the awards dock, the finish line crowd roared its approval of the first of what they hoped would be an Orange sweep of the eights. The freshmen had delivered, now it was up to the JV and Varsity.

Alas, while the JV was able to finish with a podium spot, it was not the top place. Capturing bronze behind Penn in front followed by the Northeastern Huskies, the second eight acquitted itself well, staying in contention throughout the race in conditions that were slow – and getting slower as the head wind seemed to build.

With the small boats and lower eights out of the way, it was time for the marquee event – the Varsity Eights.