June 4, 2010

CAMDEN, N.J. - Navy's freshman eight and open four boats advanced to the petite finals after recording fifth- and sixth-place finishes in their respective semifinal races Friday at the Intercollegiate Rowing Association National Championship on the Cooper River.

Navy's freshman crew placed fifth in a competitive heat, paced by fourth-seeded California's winning time of 5:48.57. The Mids, who entered the competition seeded 13th of 17 boats, turned in a time of 6:00.55, finishing ahead of No. 12 Oregon State (6:07.74), but behind No. 2 Harvard (5:50.38), No. 7 Stanford (5:50.66) and No. 6 Boston University (5:50.90).

Navy now heads to Saturday's petite final (scheduled for an approximate 10:00 am start) where it can place as high as seventh.

Navy's open four boat, meanwhile, placed sixth of six teams in its semifinal heat with a time of 6:50.27. Cornell won the race in 6:23.36, followed by Washington (6:27.98) and Brown (6:29.09) - all of whom which will advance to Saturday's grand championship final.The Mids will now move on to compete for places 7-12 in Saturday's petite final, scheduled for 9:00 am.

The third and final day of the IRA Regatta will also see Navy's first (at 11:30 am) and second varsity eight (at 8:24 am), as well as varsity four (at 8:00 am) boats compete in their respective third-level championship races.

The Mids' lightweight varsity eight crew will also take to the water on Saturday at 11:45 a.m. where it will compete among a well-balanced seven-boat field vying for a national title. A year ago, the Midshipmen placed sixth in the varsity eight grand final. Included amongst Saturday's straight-final field are familiar foes in Dartmouth, Georgetown, Harvard, Princeton, Penn, and Yale.

Freshman Eight - SemifinalPl. Entry       Lane    Time1   California  3   05:48.5742   Harvard     4   05:50.3843   Stanford    5   05:50.6614   BU      2   05:50.9055   Navy        1   06:00.5586   Oregon St.  6   06:07.746
Open Four - SemifinalPl. Entry       Lane    Time1   Cornell     4   06:23.3692   Washington  3   06:27.9883   Brown           5   06:29.0994   Harvard     2   06:30.2335   Yale        1   06:40.8506   Navy        6   06:50.279