June 5, 2009
• Live Results
RANCHO CORDOVA, Calif. - The Navy men's heavyweight crew team won two races - including its varsity eight semifinal - during the second day of the IRA National Championship at Lake Natoma on Friday.
"I am quite pleased with our performances today," stated Navy head coach Rick Clothier. "I'm very optimistic for all three crews in their finals tomorrow."
The Midshipmen concluded their day by winning their varsity eight consolation semifinal race with a time of 6:11.60 to advance to Saturday's third level final. Oregon State jumped out to an early lead and held a slim, 0.17-second advantage over Navy at the halfway point in the race. The Mids continued their rally and eventually took over first place, but still owned less than a second advantage over San Diego and Oregon State with 500 meters remaining. From that point, Navy used a late surge to pull away from both squads and cross the finish line 2.56 seconds ahead of second-place Oregon State.
"Our varsity eight crew had a very good, if not its best row of the year, this afternoon," said Clothier. "They were patient, executed the race plan and pulled away at the end."
Navy's other victory of the day came in the open four repechage race. The Midshipmen, competing with members of both its heavyweight and lightweight teams, trailed Cornell by just under a second 500 meters into the race. From that point, the Mids turned it on and took a 1.21-second lead over Cornell at the 1,000-meter mark and a 4.17-second over second-place Syracuse with 500 meters remaining. Navy went on to cross the finish line with a time of 6:50.21 - 4.22 seconds ahead of the Orange's four-oared crew.
The freshmen eight boat for the Midshipmen, seeded 10th coming into the week, placed third in their repechage race on Friday, behind only fifth-seeded Cornell and seventh-seeded Princeton. By maintaining at least a two-second cushion over 11th-seeded and fourth-place MIT for the majority of the race ensured Navy a spot in the petite final on Saturday.
The Midshipmen will conclude the IRA National Championship on Saturday with finals races. The open four will begin in the grand final at 9 a.m. PDT, followed by the heavyweight freshmen eight petite final at 9:45 a.m. PDT, the lightweight varsity eight grand final at 11:30 a.m. PDT and the heavyweight varsity eight third level final at 11:45 a.m. PDT.
HEAVYWEIGHT VARSITY EIGHT
Heat (Thursday, top 2 advance to championship semifinals, rest to repechages) - 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 (Thursday, top 1 advance to championship semifinals, rest to consolation semifinals) - Northeastern 5:59.48, Navy 6:04.32, Gonzaga 6:05.04
Consolation Semifinal (Friday, top 3 to third level final, rest to fourth level final) - Navy 6:11.60, Oregon State 6:14.16, San Diego 6:14.37, Penn 6:15.91, Holy Cross 6:22.93
Third Level Final - Saturday, 11:45 a.m. PDT
HEAVYWEIGHT FRESHMEN EIGHT
Heat (Thursday, top 1 advance to grand final, rest to repechages) - 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, top 1 advance to grand final, 2nd and 3rd advance to petite final, rest to third level final) - Cornell 6:00.62, Princeton 6:02.16, Navy 6:08.58, MIT 6:13.87, UC-San Diego 6:21.89
Petite Final - Saturday, 9:45 a.m. PDT
OPEN FOUR
Heat (Thursday, top 1 advance to grand final, rest to repechages) - Washington 6:51.30, Navy 6:56.35, Princeton 7:02.50, Syracuse 7:04.14, Harvard 7:05.02
Repechage (Friday, top 1 advance to grand final, rest to petite final) - Navy 6:50.21, Syracuse 6:54.43, Cornell 6:59.52, George Washington 7:24.06
Grand Final - Saturday, 9:00 a.m. PDT
LIGHTWEIGHT VARSITY EIGHT
Grand Final - Saturday, 11:30 a.m. PDT
