LAKE QUINSIGAMOND, Mass. — 

For most of the day, the water was nearly perfect for rowing and the rain held off. The conditions at the New England Rowing Championships (NERC) were much better than they were last year, which now ENS Nate Pokress described as "comedically windy."

The United States Coast Guard Academy men's rowing team arrived at the NEC with four V8 boats entered, marking the first time in a long while such a slate submitted. Each of the first three eights were scheduled to race a heat in the morning and a final in the afternoon, while the 4V was a final only to be raced as the first race of the afternoon.

First up was the 3V. The boat continued to race hard and develop, but they could not reach the top three and were slated to race in the petite final in the afternoon. The afternoon final put them up against Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Middlebury College, and Boston College. They ended the day in 10th overall, just 0.3 seconds off of the Eagles.

The 2V heat included Williams College, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and BC. The top two teams advanced to the grand final and the other two boats advanced to the petite. The boat placed 3rd after a solid race for a crew that has made a great deal of progress over the last few weeks. The petite final saw the Bears line up with Bates College, Connecticut College, Mass Maritime, WPI, Middlebury, and BC. In what junior Michael Lee (Cypress, Calif.) described as,"the best race weekend the 2V had this season," they were able to get off the line clean, something they have struggled with, and pushed through the field to finish as runners-up to Bates in the petites and eighth overall.

The 1V eight lined up in the morning against Tufts University, WPI, Mass Maritime, and Division I rivals MIT. Despite putting forth a solid race, Coast Guard could not match the speed of MIT and Tufts and could not work their way past WPI. In the petite final, the Bears lined up with WPI for the third time in two weeks as well as Bates, Middlebury, and BC. The 1V had their best race of the year, but could still not find a way past the Engineers, settling for fourth place in the petite and tenth overall.

The 4V was a bit overwhelmed racing the best Division III programs in the country and boatloads of recruited rowers. The race was won by a strong Wesleyan crew, followed by Trinity College, Tufts, Williams, Colby College, and Bates. With a boat full of walk-ons, the Bears will use the experience to build towards next year. This is the last race for the 4V as team members will be heading off for summer training before next week's racing.

Harrison Williams (Bellevue, Wash.), who was appointed as next year's co-captain alognside Lee, offered a philosophical take about the day: "Today was a long day of racing, a long day of learning, and an awesome day of time with my rowing family."

Bears men's rowing will be heading back up to Lake Quinsigamond next weekend for the National Invitational Rowing Championships on Sunday, May 10th.