ANNAPOLIS, Md. - The 2022 slate of fall racing for the three Navy rowing programs begins this Sunday with the Navy Day Regatta. The heavyweight, lightweight and women's teams will have 22 crews entered in racing in a head-style time trial format on the Schuylkill River beginning at 9:45 a.m. Hosted by Saint Joseph's University, Navy will compete against a field full of Northeast institutions in nine different classifications, though the majority of the competitors will be local Philadelphia programs.
The heavyweight team will be in action in first on Sunday morning as the a pair of Midshipmen crews will race down a 4,000-meter stretch of the Schuylkill River at 9:46 a.m. as part of the men's collegiate fours event. This will be the first of five events that will feature heavyweight crews as the Mids will also be racing in the freshmen eights at 10:22 a.m., junior varsity eights at 10:54 a.m., collegiate eights at 12:30 p.m. and freshmen fours at 1:30 p.m. In total, 13 heavyweight entrants are scheduled to race on Sunday.
The lightweight team will take to the Schuylkill second with their initial two crews racing in the freshmen eights contest at 10:22 a.m. Two-and-a-half hours later at 12:52 p.m., the varsity crews will get a chance to put down their first times of the fall with three entrants in the men's collegiate lightweight eights event.
Four women's crews are entered for action on Sunday over three different classifications. First up for the Mids will be one crew racing in the freshmen eights at 10:32 a.m. A little over a half-hour later, Navy will test itself in the junior varsity eights at 11:04 a.m. The final race for the women's team will be the collegiate eights at 1:08 p.m.; the Mids will have two crews in that event.
The collegiate eights fields are the most crowded as 28 boats from 14 differents schools are entered in the heavyweight classification, while Navy, Penn and Delaware will race for supremacy among eight boats in the lightweight division. Navy's women's varsity boats will make up two of the 31 total boats in the women's collegiate eights. In total, 19 different schools will be represented in the women's contest.
Sunday marks the first collegiate competitions for any of Navy's three programs since late spring when the heavyweight and lightweight teams concluded their respective seasons at the IRA National Championship in West Windsor, N.J. in early June, while the women wrapped up their 2022 campaign at the Patriot League Championship in mid May. The lights highlighted this postseason action as they finished second in both the team and V8 standings. Winners of the 2V8 and V4 races, the Mids were unfortunately on the short-end of a tie-breaker in the team standings as they posted 51.0 points, the same as the Columbia Lions, though Columbia edged them in the V8 competition for the team title. At the same championship, the heavies placed 12th in the Ten Eyck team point standings and 11th in the V8 event. The women placed third in both the team standings and V8 race at the Patriot League Championship in Cherry Hill, N.J. All three of Navy's entries placed in the top-three as the V4 won their class, while the 2V8 finished second and the V8 came in third.
Sunday's racing will serve as preparation for the top varsity boats of all three teams, who will head to Boston next weekend for action in the 2022 Head of the Charles Regatta.
Race Schedule
9:46 AM - Men's Collegiate 4+ (2 HWT)
10:22 AM - Men's Freshmen 8+ (2 HWT / 2 LWT)
10:32 AM - Women's Freshmen 8+ (1 WMN)
10:54 AM - Men's JV 8+ (3 HWT)
11:04 AM - Women's JV 8+ (1 WMN)
12:30 PM - Men's Collegiate 8+ (4 HWT)
12:52 PM - Men's Collegiate Lightweight 8+ (3 LWT)
1:08 PM - Women's Collegiate 8+ (2 WMN)
1:30 PM - Men's Freshmen 4+ (2 HWT)
