Men’s Heavyweight Rowing Puts Forth Strong Day One at IRA National Championship

WEST WINDSOR, N.J. — The Dartmouth men's heavyweight rowing team wrapped up a strong day one of the IRA National Championship on Friday at Mercer Lake, which began with the Big Green three eights advancing to the AB semifinals, with the varsity four qualifying for the grand finals.

"I thought the entire team raced really well this morning," said Wyatt Allen, Betsy and Mark Gates 1959 Head Coach of Men's Heavyweight Rowing. "To have all three of our eights make it through to the AB semifinal is a good showing and then our four, which raced the time trial this morning and came back this afternoon and qualified for the grand final, it was a great day for them."

The varsity eight began by finishing third in its heat with a time of 5:39.324, less than a second behind Syracuse and less than three seconds behind Washington. The 2V followed by coming in second in its heat to also advance to the AB semifinals, posting a time of 5:48.825, which was just over two seconds behind Harvard and nearly seven seconds ahead of Cornell in third. The 3V had a similar result, coming in second with a time of 5:50.054, narrowly behind Harvard and just over a second ahead of Cornell.

The three eights will row in AB semifinals on Saturday morning, with the top three crews from each semi advancing to the grand finals. Dartmouth's varsity eight will row at 8:50 a.m. followed by the Big Green 2V at 9:20 and the 3V at 9:30.

"Semifinal racing at the IRA is some of the best eights racing you'll see anywhere," said Allen. "There are 12 really fast crews at the varsity level and the same can be said for the 2V and 3V event. It's going to be tight, it's going to be fast and really competitive. All you can do is control what you can control, put your best race out there and hope it's enough. We're looking forward to tomorrow morning."

The varsity four had a busy day, taking part in the time trials in the morning followed by semifinals in the afternoon. The Big Green came in fifth in the time trial, and second in their semifinal to advance to the grand finals for a second straight season. Last season, Dartmouth took bronze. Saturday's grand final is set for 11:50 a.m.

"Times suggests they're going to be right in it," said Allen. "It looks like there are six very good boats in the grand final and it's going to come down to who puts their best race out there on the final day. I think our guys are ready to go and we're excited to cheer them on."

Varsity Eight
Heat 1
1. Washington — 5:36.894
2. Syracuse — 5:38.761
3. Dartmouth — 5:39.324
4. Drexel — 5:53.421
5. Georgetown — 6:03.247
6. Jacksonville — 6:10.951

Second Varsity Eight
Heat 4
1. Harvard — 5:46.505
2. Dartmouth — 5:48.825
3. Cornell — 5:55.242
4. Columbia — 6:01.992
5. La Salle — 6:07.122
6. UC San Diego — 6:15.772

Third Varsity Eight
Heat 3
1. Harvard — 5:48.664
2. Dartmouth — 5:50.054
3. Cornell — 5:51.261
4. Wisconsin — 5:53.414
5. UC San Diego — 6:34.311

Varsity Four
Time Trial
1. Washington — 6:06.858
2. California — 6:07.738
3. Brown — 6:09.993
4. FIT — 6:10.404
5. Dartmouth — 6:10.985
6. Colgate — 6:11.305
7. Princeton — 6:11.481
(Out of 34)

Semifinal #2
1. California — 6:19.301
2. Dartmouth — 6:20.141
3. Holy Cross — 6:23.514
4. Columbia — 6:24.854
5. Stetson — 6:25.871
6. Drexel — 6:31.588

Schedules