WEST WINDSOR, N.J. – The Navy heavyweight rowing team had a strong start to 2022 IRA National Championship regatta on Friday. Competing on a 2,000-meter stretch of Mercer Lake in Central New Jersey, the Mids had four boats racing in a pair of events. At the end of day, Navy had advanced two boats into AB Semifinals led by its first varsity eight crew.
 
The first varsity eight's day opened with a fourth-place result in heat number three with a time of 5:49.828. Moving ahead to the afternoon and repechage number four, the team was focused on obtaining the last spot in Saturday's AB Semifinal. Navy and Boston University were the class of the four-boat field and went stroke-for-stroke with each other over the opening 1,000 meters; the Mids were 0.1 seconds ahead at the 500-meter marker, while the Terriers edged 0.34 seconds ahead at the mid-way point. Less than 300 meters later, Navy pulled out to a one-seat lead. Over the final 500 meters, the Mids closed out with a strong push and opened up a nearly open water advantage down to the finish line. Officially, Navy earned the race win and advanced to Saturday's AB Semifinal with a 5:33.466 to 5:36.604 final outcome. That race is slated to start at 8:40 a.m.

"All of our crews raced hard today with some great efforts," remarked Rob Friedrich, the Tom and Candy Knudson Director of Navy Rowing. "The first varsity had an exceptional afternoon repechage, battling it out with a very strong BU crew all the way down the course. They did a great job of pulling away in the last 500 meters and posting the fastest time of the entire afternoon. It was the best race of the year for us so far and it came at the right time."
 
Navy's second varsity eight had a solid effort in the morning heat contest and placed third of six boats with a time of 5:56.639. In Friday afternoon' repechage number two, Navy and Wisconsin found themselves in a two-boat fight for the final spot in Saturday's AB Semifinal. Fast out of the gates with a nearly two-second lead over the first quarter of the race, the Badgers held that 1.93-second to 2.66-second advantage at each of the next two checkpoints, 1,000- and 1,500-meters. Down the stretch, the Mids fought to catch up with the Badgers, but were unable to close the gap, as they fell by 2.448 seconds, 5:44.770 to 5:47.218. Navy will race in the CD Semifinals on Saturday morning at 10:10 a.m.
 
The final eight-man boat to represent the Blue and Gold on Friday was Navy's third varsity eight. The team struggled a bit in the morning heat contest and posted a 6:04.131 time that was fourth in its initial race. With a spot in the AB Semifinals on the line to the top-three teams in the second repechage, Navy settled into a two-boat battle for second place with Penn. The Mids held slight leads over the Quakers at the 500-, 1,000- and 1,500-meter marks, as at each checkpoint it was a 0.45-second margin or tighter. In the final 500 meters of action, the Quakers edged ahead for a 0.32-second final advantage, 5:50.971 to 5:51.291. Navy comfortably earned the third and final qualifying position with a 3.73-second faster time than Wisconsin. The AB Semifinals for the 3V8 class is set to start at 9:20 a.m. on Saturday.
 
"Our 3V showed a lot of guts in their afternoon race, qualifying for the AB Semis," said Friedrich. "It was great to see them put together a strong outing."
 
In four-man action, Navy's day consisted of a time trial in the morning and a semifinal contest later in the day. After posting a time of 6:21.915 in the trials, the Mids came out and raced in the third ABC Semifinal in the afternoon. In a racy contest, that included a multitude of jockeying for positions over the first 1,000 meters, Navy found itself sitting fourth at the midway mark, but less than two seconds out of second place. Over the next 1,000 meters, the Bears from Brown University overtook the Mids and left the squad to cross the finish line in fifth place with a time of 6:27.691. Navy will now participate in the Third Final on Saturday morning at 10:50 a.m.
 
"Our 2V and 4+ had tough afternoon races, but we are very proud of their efforts," commented Friedrich. "There are a lot of young guys in those two boats and there is a lot of speed ahead for them.
 
"We're looking forward to another great day of racing tomorrow!"
 
The second day of action begins at 8:40 a.m. on Saturday with the AB Semifinals for the first varsity eight classification.

Race Results
 
First Varsity Eight
Fourth of 6 in Heat 3
Brown – 5:37.654
Princeton – 5:42.046
Wisconsin – 5:43.868
Navy – 5:49.828
Colgate – 5:50.652
Temple – 5:54.114
 
First of 4 in Repechage 3
Navy – 5:33.466
Boston Univ. – 5:36.604
Oregon State – 5:48.382
Santa Clara – 6:00.086
    Next Up: AB Semifinals – Saturday, 8:40 AM
 
Second Varsity Eight
Third of 6 in Heat 2
Yale – 5:44.399
Princeton – 5:48.177
Navy – 5:56.639
Penn – 5:58.967
Columbia – 6:00.551
Bates – 6:16.749
 
Second of 4 in Repechage 2
Wisconsin – 5:44.770
Navy – 5:47.218
Oregon State – 5:59.948
Marist – 6:12.882
    Next Up: CD Semifinals – Saturday, 10:10 AM
 
Third Varsity Eight
Fourth of 5 in Heat 2
Yale – 5:43.463
Harvard – 5:46.005
Syracuse – 5:57.321
Navy – 6:04.131
Drexel – 6:14.877

Third of 5 in Repechage 1
Boston Univ. – 5:47.959
Penn – 5:50.971
Navy – 5:51.291
Wisconsin – 5:55.021
Drexel – 6:01.313
    Next Up: AB Semifinals – Saturday, 9:20 AM
 
Varsity Four
15^th of 25 in Time Trial - 6:21.915

Fifth of 6 in Semifinal ABC
Washington – 6:21.243
Georgetown – 6:23.349
Brown – 6:25.357
Holy Cross – 6:25.727
Navy – 6:27.691
Oklahoma – 6:41.405
    Next Up: Third Final – Saturday, 10:50 AM