The Syracuse women’s rowing team honored the 30th anniversary of the Orange Cup Saturday by defeating the varsity eight crews from the Pennsylvania and Northeastern.

It was the sixth time in school history that the SU women brought home the Orange Cup.

Overall, it was a successful outing for the Orange, which finished in first place in four of the six races, including an impressive 18-second blowout of the Huskies in the varsity eight, which came in second. The Quakers were a distant 34.9 seconds behind Syracuse.

‘Well, we had a really good start,’ senior stroke of the varsity eight Liz Henwood said. ‘We started out a seat ahead of Northeastern and Penn, and Northeastern actually took a seat on us, and we were like ‘No, that’s not going to happen.’

‘Through the first 500 meters, we were actually just walking through them the whole time,’ Henwood added. ‘It was kind of gradual. Throughout the whole race, we never lost contact from them. They were always right there, but they never took seats us. We did a really good job. They never walked up on us.’

This weekend’s scene at the James A. Ten Eyck Boathouse was much different from last week, when Yale swept Syracuse and Cornell in all five events it participated in. During Saturday’s races, Syracuse, Northeastern and Penn each won one of the first three races.

The early balance between the three crews was not unexpected, but rather highly anticipated by Orange head coach Kris Sanford, who said all three crews were ‘very comparable.’

After the Orange jumpstarted Saturday’s events by winning the varsity eight, and thus the Orange Cup, Penn won the second varsity eight race that directly followed. The Quakers led wire to wire, and held off a very late push by the Huskies to secure a victory.

Northeastern carried the momentum of a near comeback on Penn into the varsity four race, which it won with a time of 8:29.0. It was a race of role reversing from the second varsity eight. In this installment, the Huskies held off a late push from Penn to win by less than than two seconds.

SU got back to its winning ways in the novice eight race by blowing away the other two crews. The Huskies finished second, 18 seconds behind the Orange.

The Orange finished strong by also capturing victories in the second varsity four race and the novice four race. Northeastern did not compete in either event, and the Quakers failed to come away with a victory despite having two crews in the novice four.

‘Winning the Orange Cup for only the sixth time in 30 years, so we are very excited for that,’ Sanford said. ‘This was a big stepping stone for us. This was a really big confidence weekend for us. We have been gaining speed all year. The more we win, the easier it gets.’

Sanford especially liked how her varsity eight crew performed and was able to bring the Orange Cup back to Syracuse.

‘I liked how they stayed consistent to the race plan,’ she said. ‘They really stuck to it. It was a dog fight of a race. We were running very close with the other crews, and when we needed to make a move, we did. That is what I like to see as a coach.’

It also appeared that with their family in attendance, the Todd sisters, senior Kate and freshman Allison, were going to determined to make their parents proud. Kate coxed the varsity eight crew that brought the Orange Cup back to the hill, while her little sister led the novice eight crew that won by almost 20 seconds.

‘The Todds are just so passionate; the whole family, all of them, are very passionate,’ Sanford said. ‘(Kate and Allison) pour in 100 percent all the time, and bring their Buffalo gruffness to the team, and everyone responds very well to it.’

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Published on April 12, 2009 at 12:00 pm