PENNSAUKEN, N.J.  – Rutgers women’s crew competed at the 2009 EAWRC Sprints on Sunday, May 17, at Cooper River Park in Pennsauken, N.J.

The Scarlet Knights’ first varsity eight battled Georgetown wire to wire in the third level final, narrowly edging the Hoyas by 1.3 seconds at the line.

“This was an exciting race, and an even more exciting indication of what’s to come,” said head coach Max Borghard. “We’re only graduating one senior out of the boat. The rest of the line-up is made up of one freshman, two juniors and five sophomores.”

 Rutgers also finished ahead of Boston College, MIT and George Washington.

RU’s second varsity eight placed fifth in its heat in 7:27.925, setting the stage for a showing in the third level final, where the Scarlet Knights finished third. Rutgers clocked a time of 7:17.255, crossing the finish line ahead of Georgetown (7:34.527) and behind first-place Navy (7:13.319) and second-place MIT (7:15.865).

The novice eight rowed a gutsy race in the petite final, finishing 3.5 seconds off of Harvard and just 0.2 seconds off of Penn.

“I’m incredibly proud of how our novice women executed this race,” said novice coach Heather Putnam. “We had a difficult season with illness and injury, but the student-athletes kept their eye on the ball. They were always trying to improve and willing to take chances. Once we had the line-up together consistently after BIG EAST, the improvement was steady and exciting to watch.”

The Rutgers novices out-paced Northeastern, Navy and BU to finish third in the petite final.