ANNAPOLIS, Md. - A full year's worth of preparation will come to a head this weekend for the heavyweight and lightweight rowing teams from Navy at the the 2023 IRA National Championship. After a fall full of head racing and a spring packed with challenging Eastern Sprints League competition, the Mids will lay it all on the line at Mercer Lake in West Windsor, New Jersey this Friday through Sunday. Between the two programs, Navy will have seven crews in action at the national regatta with the lightweight second varsity eight kicking off the multi-day competition with a semifinal heat at 8:00 a.m. on Friday.
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 8:20 a.m. with heat two of the first varsity eight. Navy will initially race versus Cornell, Northeastern, Santa Clara, Stanford and Yale. An hour later, the second varsity eight will hit the water at 9:20 a.m. in heat number two alongside Northeastern, Oregon State, Washington and Yale. The heavyweight's final eight-man boat, its third varsity crew, will race in heat two at 10:20 a.m. against Dartmouth, Syracuse, UC San Diego, Wisconsin 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. 32 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 4:20 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 14 crews will race in semifinals D, E and F.
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 Cornell, Dartmouth Harvard, Penn, Princeton and 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 Dartmouth, Harvard and Yale 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 11 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.
Scouting the Opposition
The heavyweight varsity eight field at the 2023 IRA National Championship is 24 teams deep with 14 opponents from the Eastern Sprints competition (May 15) with the addition of California, Colgate, Drexel, La Salle, MIT, Oregon State, Santa Clara, Stanford, UC San Diego and Washington
In the lightweight competition, eight first varsity eight programs will be racing at Mercer Lake as the field is as follows: Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Georgetown, MIT, Navy, Penn, Princeton and Yale.
Navy at the 2022 IRA National Championship
Lightweight Crew Finishes Runner-Up at IRA National Championship
The Navy lightweight rowing team came in determined and with its eyes on the prize on Sunday at the 2022 IRA National Championship. Racing on Mercer Lake with the opportunity to repeat as the IRA National Champions for the second straight year, the Mids left it all out on the line, collecting a win in the second varsity eight class and a runner-up result in the first varsity eight. After all of the team points were tallied Navy lost a dramatic tie-breaker to Columbia in the final standings as the Lions earned the title on the basis of the better first varsity eight outcome.
After their first varsity four collected gold in Saturday's grand final, the Mids' second varsity eight made it two-for-two to open the championship round of the IRAs. The second varsity eight race was all about the Mids as Navy bolted out to a 1.77-second lead over the opening 500 meters and a 4.17-second advantage by the midway point. Though the Cornell Big Red put forth a concerted effort down the stretch, the Mids had a strong response and breezed across the finish line eight seats ahead with a 2.502-second margin of victory, 6:05.378 to 6:07.880. The win garnered Navy 18 points in the team point standings.
The final race of the competition for the lightweights opened with Columbia darting out to a lead over Georgetown and Navy by the 500-meter mark. The Mids overtook the Hoyas over the next 500 meters and moved into second place, 1.75 seconds behind the Lions. Columbia earned a bit more separation heading into the 1,500-meter checkpoint and led Navy by 2.6 seconds. The Mids made a valiant push towards the finish line over the final 500 meters of the race and clocked in with a final time of 5:58.306, only 1.958 seconds behind the victorious Lions.
Heavyweights Complete Three Days of Action at IRA National Championship
The Navy heavyweight crew program finished three days of racing at the IRA National Championship with its top-three boats in action. The Mids' third varsity eight led the way with a third-place result in the petite final of its respective class. Overall, that ranked Navy's 3V8 ninth in the nation. Navy's first varsity eight also competed in a petite final, while the Mids' second varsity eight raced in the third final on Mercer Lake.
Navy's first varsity eight earned the program's second-best final result of the weekend as the Mids placed fifth in the petite final to rank 13th in the nation. Racing in a six-team final versus Dartmouth, Northeastern, Princeton, Cornell and Wisconsin, the Big Green opened out a lead early and held on over the 2,000 meters of action. The fast-closing Midshipmen crew set its sights on the fourth-place Big Red of Cornell down the stretch and ended within 1.55 seconds of them at the finish line. Navy's final time of 6:04.095 was fifth-best in the contest, 6.246 seconds ahead of Wisconsin.
In the Ten Eyck team point standings, Navy finished with 158 points to rank 12th overall. Yale won the overall team championship.
Race Schedule
Friday
8:00 AM – LWT Second Varsity Eight (Semifinals); Cornell, Dartmouth Georgetown, Navy, Penn, Princeton, Yale; all 7 advance - racing for lane selection
8:20 AM – HWT First Varsity Eight (Heat #2); Cornell, Northeastern, Santa Clara, Stanford, Yale; top 2 to AB semis, remainder to repechages
9:00 AM – LWT First Varsity Eight (Semifinals); Dartmouth, Harvard, Yale; top 3 to Grand Final, remainder to Petite Final
9:20 AM – HWT Second Varsity Eight (Heat #2); Northeastern, Oregon State, Washington, Yale; top 2 to AB semis, remainder to repechages
10:20 AM – HWT Third Varsity Eight (Heat #2); Dartmouth, Syracuse, UC San Diego, Wisconsin, Yale; top 2 to AB semis, remainder to repechages
11:20 AM - HWT Varsity Four, Time Trials ... top 18 to ABC semis, remainder to DEF semis
11:20 AM - LWT Varsity Four, Time Trials ... all boats to AB semis
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1:50/2:00/2:10/2:20 PM – HWT First Varsity Eight (Repechage)
2:30/2:40/2:50/3:00 PM – HWT Second Varsity Eight (Repechage)
3:10/3:20 PM – HWT Third Varsity Eight (Repechage)
3:30/3:40/3:50 PM – HWT First Varsity Four (Semifinals ABC)
4:00/4:10/4:20 PM – HWT First Varsity Four (Semifinals DEF)
4:30/4:40 PM – LWT First Varsity Four (Semifinals)
Saturday
8:30/8:40 or 9:30/9:40 AM – HWT First Varsity Semifinals (AB or CD)
8:50/9:00 or 9:50/10:00 AM – HWT Second Varsity Semifinals (AB or CD)
9:10/9:20 AM – HWT Third Varsity Semifinals (AB)
10:10/10:20/10:30 AM – HWT First Varsity Four (F, E, D Finals)
10:40/11:00/11:30 AM – LWT First Varsity Four (Finals)
10:50/11:10/11:40 AM – HWT First Varsity Four (C-Petite-Grand Finals)
Sunday
8:20/8:40/9:40/9:50 – HWT Second Varsity Eight Finals (D-C-Petite-Grand)
8:30/9:10/9:20 AM – HWT Third Varsity Eight Finals (C-Petite-Grand)
8:50/9:00/10:30/10:40 AM – HWT First Varsity Eight Finals (D-C-Petite-Grand)
9:30 AM – LWT Second Varsity Eight (Finals)
10:10/10:20 AM – LWT First Varsity Eight (Finals)
