Navy Lightweight Crew Wins Silver at IRA Regatta

June 5, 2010

CAMDEN, N.J. - The Navy men's lightweight rowing team placed second in the grand finals of the varsity eight race on Saturday at the Intercollegiate Rowing Association National Championship on the Cooper River.

Racing against the nation's top lightweight programs, the Mids, who finished fifth at last month's Eastern Sprints in Worcester, Mass., clocked in at 5:37.05 to finish just 0.99 seconds off the pace set by race victor and national champion Princeton.

The favored Tigers, who also captured the Eastern Sprints back on May 16th, took the race with a winning time of 5:36.06.

"We rowed a magnificent race," said Navy head coach Steve Perry. "We got off second to last, but at about 500-meters in we were able to find a wonderful rhythm and really started moving. We found another gear over that last 300-meters and really finished well."

The Mids had placed sixth in the grand final a year ago and in four of their last five IRA appearances. It is Navy's best showing since also finishing as the race's runner-up in 2008.

"After Eastern Sprints, we went back to the drawing board," said Perry. "We knew we were capable of more and I think that really showed this weekend. We changed things up and moved our captain Kevin Mott to the stroke seat and our lineup behind him really came together well.

	Navy came within one second of capturing its second national title with a stellar row from an outside lane.

"This is the third silver medal Navy has earned at the IRA in the last nine years. The program has three silvers and a gold medal over the last decade. I am very happy to have been part of this experience this weekend and believe the sky is the limit for Navy rowing moving forward."

Varsity Lightweight Eight - Grand FinalPl. Entry       Lane    Time1   Princeton   3   05:36.0652   Navy        1   05:37.0593   Harvard     4   05:38.0174   Yale        2   05:39.2565   Georgetown  0   05:42.0556   Dartmouth   5   05:52.2257   Penn        6   05:53.826
Navy's IRA LineupBow -   Tucker Witt '11Two -   John Paul '10Three - Michael Kerrigan '10Four -  Ed King '11Five -  Chris Medford '11Six -   Julian Bowling '10Seven - Charlie Harty '12Stroke - Kevin Mott (capt.) '10Coxswain - Alex Duncan '10