June 3, 2010

CAMDEN, N.J. - Navy's freshman eight and open four boats both advanced into their respective championship semifinals on the opening day of the Intercollegiate Rowing Association National Championship, being held this week on the Cooper River in Camden, N.J.

Navy's first varsity eight boat opened the day by placing fourth in its heat with a time of 5:43.37. Top-seed and Washington won the race with the fastest time of the afternoon in 5:30.45.

"The opening race went pretty much as we expected," said Navy head coach Rick Clothier. "We were pretty close off Dartmouth with 500-meters to go, but as that separation with the top-two boats grew we decided to save something for later in the afternoon."

The Midshipmen would take to the water for the second time within six hours for one of two repechage race heats. Navy did not get off very well, but about 400-to-600-meters in would make a big move into third place behind No. 5 Brown and No. 4 Princeton. A strong push late from 10th-seeded Syracuse, however, saw the Orange leap ahead of the Tigers and finish in second, pushing the Mids outside the top-three and into Saturday's third-level championship where they will compete for places 13-18.

Despite falling short of its goal to place among the top-12 teams in the nation, Navy, who was seeded 13th coming in, had plenty to take away from the effort.

"We have a young crew and I am very proud of how these guys raced today," said Clothier "We came in as the No. 13 seed and for a while there we raced among the top-12. While we were disappointed to fall out of the top-three, I was really impressed with our effort. We showed a lot of improvement, finishing four seconds closer to Princeton than we did at Easterns."

Navy's freshman eight placed fourth in its trial heat with a time of 5:56.80, but returned later in the afternoon's repechage heat and shaved over 12 seconds off its morning clocking in a second-place, 5:44.14 effort. The Mids, seeded 13th of 17 crews competing for the Stewards Cup, Will Race in the semifinal round against No. 2 Harvard, No. 4 California, No. 6 Boston University, No. 7 Stanford and No. 12 Oregon State.

Navy's open four boat, which consists of members of both the heavyweight and lightweight teams, would take a similar route to the semifinals, bouncing back from a fourth-place trials finish (6:59.93) and placing second in its repechage race in a time of 6:44.23. Included amongst the Mids' semifinal field on Friday will be heat-winners Washington and Cornell, as well as Yale, Harvard, and Brown.

The Midshipmen will take part in day two of the IRA Regatta tomorrow with the open four (9:30 am) and freshman eight semifinal (11:15 am) races. The top-three finishers in each semifinal will advance to the Saturday's grand championship final, while the bottom three will compete for spots 7-12 in the petite final.

Additional information on this year's IRA National Championship can be found by clicking here.

FIRST VARSITY EIGHTPl. Entry       Lane    Time1   Washington  3   5:30.4592   Dartmouth   2   5:35.8813   Stanford    5   5:42.8734   Navy        1   5:43.3725   Wisconsin   4   5:50.0206   Jacksonville    6   6:05.360
Repechage:Pl. Entry       Lane    Time1   Brown       4   05:37.5992   Syracuse    5   05:39.9323   Princeton   3   05:41.1184   Navy        2   05:44.1065   Oregon State    6   05:49.7726   Jacksonville    1   05:52.805
SECOND VARSITY EIGHTPl. Entry       Lane    Time1   California  3   05:42.8772   Wisconsin   4   05:47.4453   Northeastern    2   05:48.9534   Boston U    5   05:54.8705   Navy        1   05:55.608
Repechage:Pl. Entry       Lane    Time1   BU      4   05:44.4842   Yale        3   05:45.1983   Columbia    2   05:45.3734   Dartmouth   6   05:49.5115   Navy        1   05:54.0446   Pennsylvania    5   06:05.270
FRESHMEN EIGHTHeat:Pl. Entry       Lane    Time1   Washington  3   05:40.8222   Boston U    4   05:44.1793   Stanford    2   05:46.3614   Navy        1   05:56.5805   Oregon State    5   05:57.576
Repechage:1   Brown       4   05:42.7192   Navy        2   05:44.1493   Columbia    3   05:46.4674   Yale        1   05:48.7645   Dartmouth   5   06:03.032
OPEN FOURHeat:Pl. Entry       Lane    Time1   Washington  1   06:26.3122   Oregon State    3   06:30.7473   Yale        2   06:36.7044   Navy        4   06:59.9385   Dartmouth   5   07:09.890
Repechage:1   Princeton   2   06:40.1702   Navy        3   06:44.2373   Pennsylvania    4   07:00.6614   Dartmouth   5   08:02.076
VARSITY FOURPl. Entry       Lane    Time1   Stanford    1   06:22.1272   California  3   06:23.8873   Harvard     5   06:26.3424   Brown       2   06:28.0595   GW      6   06:32.2686   Navy        4   07:11.719
Repechage:Pl. Entry       Lane    Time1   Brown       4   06:31.0062   Syracuse    3   06:35.0003   Princeton   5   06:35.0094   Holy Cross  2   06:39.0705   Loyola      6   06:50.0056   Navy        1   06:50.921