Oct. 18, 2009

Eddie Bruce had his mind made up about the final turn.

For over an hour he had walked coaches and rowers to the side of the Charles River just below the Elliot Bridge to watch the other crews, squinting with one eye closed, trying to find just the right approach into the sprint and the finish line of the Head of the Charles.

There was no way the UML freshman coxswain was going to steer the River Hawks men's four wide and put more time on the clock.

Still, it was the Head of the Charles. There was a chance that the UML boat would have the curve alone, and there was a chance they would not.

They did not.

Coming out the final bridge, the River Hawks had two boats on either side. Bruce was not conceding an inch but it looked for a minute like the UML boat was going to be closed out and forced wide until the outside boat in the pack got an oar stuck in the water and spun sideways into the inside boat.

"I couldn't believe it," Bruce later said. "I saw the boat in front of us closing in and I thought were going to crash."

Instead, Bruce hit his rudder hard, veered into the opening and slipped past and into the dead on the line he had spent all afternoon planning for.

It was a steely move but in the end it was not enough to get the River Hawks the time they wanted to win an automatic return bid for next year. The UML men's four finished 21st in the field of 36 boats.

They beat some very good programs including Bucknell, University of Rhode Island, and Villanova, but it was not enough.

In the women's four the result was a disappointing 24th in a field of 29. Head coach Veronika Platzer felt the result and her team's participation was a step in the right direction regardless.

"I think that the program is moving in the right direction but I also think the results have given the kids a taste of where we need to go to become a Head of the Charles champion," Platzer noted.

NOTES

Several members of the Merrimack Rowing Association, which rows out of the same boathouse as the River Hawks, competed in the regatta including Michael Sivigny, who became the first US men's single sculler to win the Championship Single since 1999.

Sivigny, who is coached by Platzer, edged Nathan Cohen of New Zealand, and Sweden's Lassi Karonen to claim the prestigious title.

The River Hawks will next see action when they travel to Philadelphia for the Frostbite Regatta Nov. 14, and Camden, NJ for the Bill Braxton Memorial Regatta Nov. 15.