Husky crew wins Henley championship in England

The men's varsity-eight racing shell is about 60 feet long. Multiply that by four and three quarters, and that's the distance that separated Washington from Rutgers University when the Huskies won at the Henley Royal Regatta Sunday in England.

The varsity eight were victorious in the Ladies Challenge Plate, the regatta's second-highest eight-oared event. The last time a UW men's boat won at the prestigious event was in 1981, when the junior-varsity boat took a Ladies Challenge Plate championship back to Montlake.

The Huskies jumped out to an early lead and built on that throughout the race, finishing ahead of the Scarlet Knights with a time of 6 minutes 24 seconds. The regatta's course on the Thames River is 2,112 meters in length, slightly longer than the traditional 2,000-meter course.

Washington's lineup changed between May's Intercollegiate Rowing Association (IRA) championship and the Henley regatta. Coxswain Ryan Marks and rowers John Lorton, Marko Petrovic, Brett Newlin, Giuseppe Lanzone, Kyle Larson, Sam Burns and Andy Derrick went to England.

Sophomore stroke Ante Kusurin could not compete because he committed to row on the Croatian national team. Junior Ian Sawyer, who rowed on Washington's junior varsity eight, replaced Kusurin, who hails from Zagreb, Croatia. Newlin and Burns went to Henley after some training with the U.S. national team in Princeton, N.J. Petrovic, who is from Belgrade, Serbia, practiced with the Serbian national team before racing in England.

Washington defeated a crew of rowers from the Nottingham and Union Rowing Club and the London Rowing Club by two and a quarter lengths Friday and a crew from the Moseley Boat Club and the Imperial College of London by two seats Saturday to compete in Sunday's final. Rutgers defeated Dartmouth University Friday and the Leander Club Saturday to race against the Huskies.

This was the first time the Scarlet Knights went to Henley. The Huskies were last there in 1997, when they lost the Ladies Plate by a foot to the Notts County Oxford Brookes crew that served as the British national lightweight eight.

The win abroad marks the 100th anniversary of Husky crew with a positive note. Harvard University followed its Ladies Plate victory last year with a win at this year's IRA championship. If the Huskies were to duplicate that accomplishment, they would win their first varsity-eight national title since 1997.

Washington lost to Harvard by a boat length at the IRA races. Traditionally, Washington does not enter the Henley regatta unless it wins the IRA; however, the team made an exception this year because of the 100th anniversary.

The crew program keeps a boat in England for the Henley races. The Empacher shell, named "The 101," was donated by an anonymous UW benefactor and is stored at Jesus College in Cambridge. It was named after The 101 Club, an amateur-sports support organization based in Seattle.

The Huskies also entered a four-man boat in the regatta's Britannia Challenge Cup. Coxswain Chris O'Brien and rowers Scott Gault, John Taylor, Jeff Jorgensen and Mathew Kopicky lost by two feet to the Isis Boat Club of England in the event's quarterfinals. The Washington four defeated British crews from the Agecroft Rowing Club and the Henley Rowing Club in the previous two days of competition.