New England Rowing Championships
at Lake Quinsigamond, Worcester, Mass.

WORCESTER, Mass. — The Bates rowing team received its first-ever national ranking last week, as the Bobcats women's varsity eight were tied for 18th in the poll released by USRowing and the College Rowing Coaches' Association. Coach Andrew Carter's squad followed that ranking up with some impressive performances at the New England Rowing Championships at Lake Quinsigamond in Worcester, Mass.

The women's novice eight led the way at the NERC. The Bobcats won their heat by more than seven seconds over Boston College and owned a three-second advantage over their next-highest heat winner. They then won the Grand Final race by two seconds over the boat from Tufts, the only team to have defeated them in the regular season. The women's varsity eight had one of their best races of the season in the qualifying heat. No. 18 Bates defeated No. 5 Wellesley head-to-head by more that two seconds. They also had better times than four other teams in other heats who were ranked ahead of Bates: No. 8 Wesleyan, No. 10 Coast Guard, No. 12 Trinity and No. 15 Mount Holyoke. Unfortunately, the Bobcats missed the Grand Final by a mere two-tenths of a second and came in sixth in the Petite Final.

"They used up so much energy - physical, mental and emotional - in such a great race in the heats," said head coach Andrew Carter. "There might not have been enough left in the finals."

On the men's side, the varsity eight boat placed second in its heat and qualified for the Grand Final. They placed fourth in that race, ahead of boats from Division I New Hampshire and NESCAC rival Wesleyan, with Williams the only Division III boat ahead of them.. The men's novice eight took third in their heat and fourth in the Petite Final, while the men's second varsity eight was fifth in both their heat and in the Petite Final. In all, four of the five Bates boats qualified for next week's Avaya Championship regatta, with only the women's varsity eight missing out.