June 4, 2009

• Live Results

RANCHO CORDOVA, Calif. - The Navy men's heavyweight crew team saw action in three events during the opening day of the IRA National Championship at Lake Natoma on Thursday.

Navy's varsity eight boat opened the day by placing fourth in its heat with a time of 6:10.85. Eventual-race-winner Washington and Wisconsin pulled away from the field early in the race, while George Washington was less than 0.3-second ahead of Navy. Over the next-1,000 meters, the Colonials extended their third-place cushion to 2.69 seconds. However, the Midshipmen made a late push but could not make up the difference, as they were nipped by 1.30 seconds.

With the top-two crews of each morning heat automatically advancing to Friday's championship semifinals, the Midshipmen had to take to the water for the second time within six hours for the repechage race. In the afternoon event, where the winner earned a spot in the championship semifinal, Northeastern jumped out to a 2.21-second lead over Navy after the first-500 meters and continued to pull away for the remainder of the race. The Midshipmen finished in 6:05.32 - 0.58-second ahead of third-place Gonzaga and 4.88 seconds behind the Huskies.

The first freshmen crew from Navy also placed fourth in its heat on Thursday. The Midshipmen stood in third place after the first-500 meters, behind California and eventual-winner Harvard. Syracuse charged ahead by more than two seconds over the next-500 meters to push the Mids back to fourth place before they began chipping away at the deficit. Navy was able to trim the time margin by nearly a full second with 500 meters remaining, but the Orange was able to edge the Midshipmen by less than a second at the finish line, 6:11.34-6:12.03.

Navy's open four boat, which consists of members of both the heavyweight and lightweight teams, finished second with a time of 6:56.35 - 6.15 seconds ahead of third-place Princeton and 5.05 second behind first-place Washington. The Midshipmen held a slim margin over the tightly-packed field over the first-500 meters, but Washington stroked ahead to take the lead and, like Navy against the rest of the teams in the heat, built its lead over the final-half of the race.

The Midshipmen will partake in day two of the IRA National Championship tomorrow for varsity eight consolation semifinal (12:15-12:30 p.m. PDT), freshman eight repechage (9:36-10:00 a.m. PDT) and open four repechage (8:24-8:36 a.m. PDT) races.

VARSITY EIGHT
Heat - Washington 5:57.00, Wisconsin 6:02.79, George Washington 6:09.55, Navy 6:10.85, UC-San Diego 6:17.54, Holy Cross 6:28.00
Repechage - Northeastern 5:59.48, Navy 6:04.32, Gonzaga 6:05.04
Consolation Semifinal - Friday, 12:15-12:30 p.m. (PDT)

FRESHMEN EIGHT
Heat - Harvard 6:01.80, California 6:04.10, Syracuse 6:11.34, Navy 6:12.03, Oregon State 6:23.09, Gonzaga 6:24.67
Repechage - Friday, 9:36-10:00 a.m. (PDT)

OPEN FOUR
Heat - Washington 6:51.30, Navy 6:56.35, Princeton 7:02.50, Syracuse 7:04.14, Harvard 7:05.02
Repechage - Friday, 8:24-8:36 a.m. (PDT)