ANNAPOLIS, Md. - The Navy heavyweight and lightweight crew programs will culminate their collegiate seasons this weekend in central New Jersey with competition at the 2022 IRA National Championships. The teams are coming off a banner performance at last year's regatta, in which the lightweights swept its three-race slate for the team title and the heavyweights had all four of its crews finish in the top-10 to earn a sixth-place result in the team standings. The 2022 competition begins on Friday for Navy with seven boats in action on Mercer Lake in West Windsor, New Jersey. First up, will be the lightweight second varsity eight in a heat race at 8:00 a.m.
The Intercollegiate Rowing Association (IRA) will be providing live video and results of both the heavyweight and lightweight regattas.
The action for Navy's heavyweights begins at 8:30 a.m. with heat three of the first varsity eight. Navy will initially race versus Brown, Colgate, Princeton, Temple and Wisconsin. A little under an hour later the second varsity eight will hit the water at 9:20 a.m. in heat number two alongside Bates, Columbia, Penn, Princeton and Yale. The heavyweight's final eight-man boat and its third varsity crew will race in heat two at 10:10 a.m. against Drexel, Harvard, Syracuse and Yale. The varsity four crew will conclude the racing on Friday morning as it competes in a time trial at 11:20 a.m. 27 schools make up the varsity four field.
All four heavyweight events will have repechage or semifinal racing later on in the day on Friday from 1:50 p.m. to 4:10 p.m. Only the top two boats in each of the V8, 2V8 and 3V8 morning heat races automatically advance to the semifinals, while the remaining boats race again in the aforementioned repechages. For the V4 event, the top 18 boats will race in semifinal A, B or C in the afternoon, while the remaining nine crews will race in semifinal D and E.
(Heavyweights Luke Phelan and Griffin Dunne preview the IRAs)
Navy's lightweight team has entered its first and second varsity eight crews, as well as its varsity four boat in the national championship. The Mids' heat schedule on Friday consists of the 2V8 kicking off the racing at 8:00 a.m. versus Columbia, Cornell, Georgetown, Navy, Penn, Princeton, Yale. All seven crews in this heat will advance to Sunday's grand final, lane selection will be up for grabs during this initial contest. Next up, the first varsity eight crew will test itself versus Columbia, Georgetown and Penn at 9:00 a.m. with a spot in Sunday's grand final on the line for the top-three finishers. Similar to their heavyweight brethren, the varsity four crew will compete in a time trial on Friday morning. One of 14 boats entered in the time trial, the teams will be racing for seeding in Friday afternoon's semifinals. The lightweight V4 semifinals are slated to begin at 4:20 p.m.
(Oliver Hasler and Stephen Frost breakdown what lies ahead for the Navy Lightweights at the IRAs)
Scouting the Opposition
The heavyweight varsity eight field at the 2022 IRA National Championship is 24 teams deep with 15 opponents from the Eastern Sprints competition (May 15) with the addition of Drexel, Marist, MIT, Oregon State, Santa Clara, Stanford, UC San Diego, California, Washington
In the lightweight competition, nine first varsity eight programs will be racing at Mercer Lake as the field is as follows: Columbia, Cornell, Georgetown, MIT, Mercyhurst, Navy, Penn, Princeton and Yale.
Navy at the 2021 IRA National Championship
Navy Lightweights Win IRA National Championship with Clean Sweep
Coming into the IRA National Championship as the top-ranked team in the nation, the Navy lightweight rowing program made sure that it would be coming back to Hubbard Hall with all of the championship hardware as the Mids swept all three classifications of racing on Mercer Lake. Taking on Ivy League competition for the first time in 2021, the Mids earned victories in the first and second varsity eight races, as well as in the straight four event.
Navy's straight four crew started off the sweep as it clocked in at 7:43.491, 11.377 seconds ahead of Mercyhurst, who finished in second with a time of 7:54.868. Next up, Navy's second varsity eight crew made it a two-for-two start to the day as the Mids faced and passed the challenge of Ivy League combatants, Princeton and Penn. Pacing the field, Navy reached the final buoys and broke away for an open water victory. The final standings showed Navy posting a victorious time of 6:41.362 ahead of Princeton's 6:47.282 and Penn's 6:54.105.
The Mids' first varsity eight crew was last on the water at the championship. With the title of the nation's top lightweight crew in 2021 lying in the balance, Navy found itself in a constant battle with Princeton and Penn for the majority of the 2,000-meter race. Pushed down the stretch, Navy had a strong closing answer and eventually recorded a 2.577-second margin of victory over Penn, 6:44.899 to 6:47.476. Princeton fell off the pace and placed third with a 6:55.546 time.
Heavyweight Crew Finishes with Four Top-10 Results at IRA National Championship
Working off strong day one performances at the 2021 IRA National Championship, the Navy heavyweight crew program had three boats in petite finals and a fourth, the third varsity eight, racing in a grand finals at Mercer Lake. At the conclusion of Saturday's final competitions, the Mids placed sixth in the Ten Eyck team point standings as a result of all four boats finishing in the top-10. Navy was just 10 points out of the top-five in team standings with 267 points.
The Mids' top finish came from its third varsity eight crew as they completed the 2,000-meter course in a time of 6:31.920 to rank fifth in the nation. In the highlighted first varsity eight competition, Navy found itself racing in the petite final. The Mids went wire-to-wire in the middle of the pack with the Brown University Bears and the Wisconsin Badgers as the Boston University Terriers and Princeton broke away in the first and second place positions. Jockeying throughout the 2,000 meters with those two teams, Brown finished third overall in the final at 6:14.877, 4.412 seconds ahead of Navy, who clocked in at 6:19.289. The Mids were able to hold off the fifth-place Badgers, who finished with a 6:21.003 result. By placing fourth in the petite final, Navy completes the season ranked 10th in the nation.
Race Schedule
Friday
8:00 AM - LWT Second Varsity Eight, Heat 1 (Columbia, Cornell, Georgetown, Navy, Penn, Princeton, Yale); all 7 advance - racing for lane selection
8:30 AM - HWT First Varsity Eight, Heat 3 (Brown, Colgate, Navy, Princeton, Temple, Wisconsin); top 2 to AB semis, remainder to repechages
8:50 AM - LWT First Varsity Eight, Heat 2 (Columbia, Georgetown, Navy, Penn); top 3 to Grand Final, remainder to Petite Final
9:20 AM - HWT Second Varsity Eight, Heat 2 (Bates, Columbia, Navy, Penn, Princeton, Yale); top 2 to AB semis, remainder to repechages
10:10 AM - HWT Third Varsity Eight, Heat 2 (Drexel, Harvard, Navy, Syracuse, Yale); top 2 to AB semis, remainder to repechages
11:20 AM - HWT Varsity Four, Time Trials (Navy is bow #8 in trial) ... top 18 to ABC semis, remainder to repechages
11:20 AM - LWT Varsity Four, Time Trials (Navy is bow #42 in trial) ... all boats to AB semis
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1:50-2:20 PM - HWT Varsity Eight Repechages; winner to AB semis, remainder to CD semis
2:30-3:00 PM - HWT Second Varsity Eight Repechages; winner to AB semis, remainder to CD semis
3:10-3:20 PM - HWT Third Varsity Eight Repechages; top 3 to AB semis, remainder to Third Final
3:30-3:50 PM - HWT Varsity Four ABC Semifinals; top 2 to Grand Final, next 2 to Petite Final, remainder to Third Final
4:00-4:10 PM - HWT Varsity Four DEF Semifinals; top 3 to D Final, remainder to E Final
4:20-4:30 PM - LWT Varsity Four AB Semifinals; top 2 to Grand Final, next 2 to Petite Final, remainder to Third Final
Saturday Schedule
8:40-10:10 AM - Semifinals (HWT V8, HWT 2V8, HWT 3V8)
10:20, 10:30, 10:50, 11:10, 11:30 AM - HWT Varsity Four Finals
10:40, 11:00, 11:20 AM - LWT Varsity Four Finals
Sunday Schedule
8:30-10:50 AM - Finals (HWT V8, 2V8, 3V8 & LWT V8, 2V8 Classifications)
