By Paul Perillo

Men's crew has long been recognized as one of Northeastern's most successful athletic programs. But hang on to your oars: Even amid the fabled glory, 2005 promises to be a year to be remembered.

Last year, coach John Pojednic saw his team finish fourth at the Eastern Sprints, fifth in the national rankings.

This year? Nearly all the members of last year's varsity boat will be back.

"We have seven rowers returning this season," Pojednic says. "We usually have about three or four returners in any given year. So this is a new experience for us, a very exciting one."

The news gets better. The eighth and final rower—senior Petar Lovric, of Zagreb, Croatia—has already spent two seasons (2002 and 2003) in the Huskies' top boat, before taking last year off in an effort (ultimately unsuccessful) to qualify for the Olympics. Even coxswain Jeff Haelle is returning with varsity experience.

That meant last month the Huskies began the season with no openings in the varsity boat. "We're usually looking to fill four or five seats," Pojednic says, "and not having to do that allowed us to spend the preseason doing a lot more work on and off the water, because the guys know what it takes to be successful."

This gives Northeastern an advantage usually reserved for West Coast powers California, Washington, and Stanford, and East Coast rivals Harvard, Princeton, Dartmouth, Brown, and BU, which routinely return much of their talent each year.

In addition to Lovric, Northeastern's seasoned varsity squad includes senior captain Brogan Graham; junior Craig Smallwood, in the stroke seat; 6-foot-5, 200-pound senior Dustin Carle, one of the team's strongest members; and juniors Tom Manz, Shane O'Mara, and Will Miller.

Rounding out the old-timers is senior Mike Tripician, rowing in the varsity boat for his third year. At

6-foot-1, 185 pounds, Tripician is the smallest athlete in the boat, known for his aggressive pulling.

The overall increase in the team's talent is due, Pojednic believes, to the explosion of high school rowing over the past ten years. It allows Northeastern to recruit more successfully over a broader base. Once, the bulk of the squad's roster had to come from on-campus searches for what Pojednic calls "diamonds in the rough": The coaches would keep their eyes peeled for students who had a good build for rowing and then plead with them to give it a try, whatever their experience level.

Of course, there will always be a place for novice rowers. About a dozen newcomers hold a place on this year's roster.

In fact, Pojednic is quick to point out, 2003 captain Mark Shamp was originally a walk-on. This season, three walk-ons—Steve McLane, Kyle Loten, and Pat Mahady—are competing for spots. But now the struggle is for spots in the second varsity boat, not the lead boat.

"We are very deep as a program, and that's great," says Pojednic. "The freshman coach [John Lindberg] and I are very thorough in recruiting. We cast a wide net across the United States and Canada." They're finding Northeastern academics—and co-op, in particular—is a big draw. "The co-op program provides our student-athletes the opportunity to supplement the cost of education, and we've attracted a lot of fine candidates as a result," Pojednic says.

Another factor that makes Northeastern rowing strong is the Charles River's proximity to other schools. With Harvard, BU, and a host of others within shouting distance, the Huskies have no problems finding fierce workout partners.

"That's a major benefit," Pojednic says. "Having a lot of teams around here helps our athletes see competitors every day and keeps them on their toes in practice. Everything is a lot sharper because of that constant competition."

Northeastern will have to be razor-sharp to stay near the top of the heap. Its league, the Eastern Association of Rowing Colleges, has seventeen members; thirteen to fifteen of them tend to be ranked among the nation's top twenty. After this season's first three meets—the San Diego Crew Classic, and matchups against BU and Brown—Northeastern was ranked sixth nationally.

Desire is a keen motivator. Even before the first boat hit the water for the first run this year, Pojednic envisioned his veteran Huskies being in the hunt for a national championship.

"I would expect our efforts will be rewarded with medals," he says. "Being competitive among the best programs in the country is what we expect."

 Peter Jasmin and Idris Payne
 Photo by Tracy Powell

Racing to the Beat of a Different Drum

When sprinter Idris Payne and hurdler Peter Jasmin join forces at a track meet, happiness reigns and results boards soar. Never mind that they're the Huskies' version of the Odd Couple.

Payne, a junior majoring in business, loves to talk. And he doesn't shy away from bold statements, like the one he offered coach Sherman Hart just days after arriving as a freshman.

"He walked into my office—like the fourth day he was here—with a piece of paper in his hands," Hart recalls. "On the paper, he had written ‘47.4,' and he said, ‘This is what I'm going to run.' And then he pinned it up on my wall."

Now, the best Payne had ever run the 400 meters in high school (at the Bronx's Fordham Prep) was in the 51-second range. But here he was, before his first practice, guaranteeing his coach he'd chop four seconds off his best time.

"I told Sherman before I even came here that I would talk so much I would drive him crazy," Payne says. "But I also knew I had to back it up."

So he's bettered his brash prediction again and again. This winter, he took first place at the America East Championships with a time of 46.76. As a junior, he set an NU record with a 46.71 mark.

In contrast to his friend, Jasmin says very little, brash or otherwise. Both Payne and Hart say it took the team almost four years to get the junior from Middletown, New York, to leap into a casual conversation.

"He doesn't say much," Payne reports. "But when he does have something to say, everyone listens. He's one of those guys who has everyone's respect."

Hart warns against confusing Jasmin's soft-spoken nature for a lack of fire. "Peter is extraordinarily competitive," the coach says. "As an athlete, he's kind of like a time bomb—when the gun goes off, he just explodes."

Which is what he did last year when he ran a 7.71 55-hurdles at a meet at BU. He's since improved that mark several times over, including a 7.59 at the New England Championships in February, good for second place.

Jasmin, an electrical engineering major, admits he has a quiet manner. "It's just the way I've always been," he says. But Payne is starting to rub off a little. "Idris is a really fun guy to be around. I'm trying to be a little more like that."

Hart first saw both athletes in 2001, at the New York high school state finals. When the coach arrived to watch Payne compete, though, he found him sitting in the stands.

"He didn't make it to the finals, and he was pretty disappointed," Hart says. "But while we were watching, we talked a lot. His father told me that I was the first person to go tit for tat with him, and that Idris was going to go to Northeastern."

Hart watched Jasmin run very well that day, displaying rare technique for such a young hurdler. Jasmin gives Northeastern hurdles coach Anya Forrest credit for honing his technique even more.

"I really noticed a difference between my sophomore and junior seasons, after she came," Jasmin says. "I enjoy the technical aspect of hurdles. It's not just about getting from one point to another. I like having something in the way."

Both Payne and Jasmin have had very little in their way during their three-plus seasons together. With just an outdoor season of eligibility remaining for both, another America East title would make the perfect swan song.

Which they'd sing in perfect harmony.