ANNAPOLIS, Md. - All the early mornings on the Severn River, brutal erg sessions and two-a-day practices will be put to the test this weekend at the 2024 IRA National Championships for the heavyweight and lightweight crews from Navy. After racing in head competitions during the fall and battling against Eastern Sprints League rivals throughout the majority of the spring season, the Mids will get one final chance to lay down their best efforts and times of the year 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 via the Overnght streaming service and free results of both the heavyweight and lightweight regattas.
Overnght is a subscription-based streaming service that requires patrons to sign-up for monthly or yearly plans prior to tuning into the contest.
The action for Navy's heavyweights begins at 8:30 a.m. on Friday in heat three of the first varsity eight competition. Navy will initially race versus Boston University, Harvard, La Salle, Princeton and Santa Clara. 50 minutes later, the second varsity eight will hit the water at 9:20 a.m. in heat number two alongside Jacksonville, Penn, Princeton, Oregon State and Yale. The heavyweight's final eight-man boat, its third varsity crew, will compete in heat four at 10:20 a.m. as part of a four-team field made up of Cal, Penn and Yale. The varsity four crew will conclude the racing for the heavies on Friday morning as it competes in a time trial at 11:40 a.m.; 35 schools make up the varsity four field.
This will be the first IRA National Championship in recent memory without an afternoon repechage on day one as advancement to the AB Semifinals for the V8, 2V8 and 3V8 will come directly from finishing top-three in a given qualifying heat. For those boats that don't make the AB Semifinals they'll move onto CD Semifinals on Saturday. The progression for the V4 competition will see the top-12 teams from that time trial race in AB Semifinals starting at 4:30 p.m. on Friday.
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 all of the racing at 8:00 a.m. versus Eastern Sprints foes: 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 Penn, Princeton 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 starting at 11:40 a.m. 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 4:30 p.m.
Scouting the Opposition
The heavyweight varsity eight field at the 2024 IRA National Championship is 24 teams deep with 14 opponents from the Eastern Sprints competition (May 19) with the addition of California, Drexel, Jacksonville, 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: Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, MIT, Navy, Penn, Princeton and Yale.
Navy at the 2023 IRA National Championship
All Three Lightweight Crews Finish Top-Five at 2023 IRA National Championship
The Navy lightweight rowing team's first varsity boat placed fourth in the grand final Sunday at the Intercollegiate Rowing Association National Championship on Lake Mercer in West Windsor, N.J. The second varsity eight boat also placed fourth in its final and the Mids as a team finished in a tie for third place out of eight teams in the points standings.
Saturday saw Navy's varsity four boat place fifth in its grand final.
Sitting in third place at the 1,500-meter mark behind Princeton (4:14.203) and Harvard (4:15.863), Navy (4:17.298) set its eyes squarely on the finish line over the final 500 meters. The Tigers crossed the line in a winning time of 5:41.021 and the Crimson earned the silver medal with their clocking of 5:42.883. Penn, which was in fifth place after both 500 and 1,000 meters and was in fourth place after 1,500 meters, recorded a closing 500-meter time that was nearly three seconds faster than any other entry in the final section of the course and was the second-fastest 500 meters in any segment of the race to surge past Navy for the bronze medal. The Quakers posted an overall time of 5:44.033 to edge the Mids and their clocking of 5:44.447.
That outcome of the V8 competition directly reflected the final standings for the team points trophy as Princeton won with 54 points, while Harvard was second with 50. Penn and Navy tied for third place with 40 points each, though the Quakers held the tie-breaker with a higher V8 finish.
Heavyweights Complete Three Days of Action at IRA National Championship
The Navy heavyweight rowing team concluded action at the 2023 IRA National Championship with its top three crews all competing one final time on Lake Mercer in West Windsor, N.J. At the end of Sunday, the team's first varsity boat placed fourth in the C final, while its second varsity boat finished in second place in the C final and the third varsity boat earned a fifth-place showing in the petite final.
The team's varsity four entry placed fifth in the grand final on Saturday.
The six boats in Sunday's C final for the V8 classification were bunched together after 500 meters as less than three seconds separated the lead boat from the last. It remained tight after an additional 500 meters as Wisconsin was in the lead in a time of 2:49.780 and Navy was in fourth place with an effort of 2:51.960. There was some separation from Boston U.'s first-place boat (4:17.354) after 1,500 meters, but that left Drexel (4:19.821), Wisconsin (4:20.500) and Navy (4:21.175) in a battle for second place.
The Terriers would win the race in a time of 5:44.166, the Dragons finished in second place with a time of 5:45.316, the Badgers followed in third place with their clocking of 5:46.090 and the Mids crossed the line in fourth place with an effort of 5:46.906.
The Mids as a team finished in 14th place out of 24 teams in the Ten Eyck tabulation with 131 points.
Race Schedule
Friday
8:00 AM – LWT Second Varsity Eight (Semifinals); Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Navy, Penn, Princeton, Yale; all 7 advance - racing for lane selection
8:30 AM – HWT First Varsity Eight (Heat #3); Boston Univ., Harvard, La Salle, Navy, Princeton, Santa Clara; top-3 to AB semis, remainder to CD semis
9:00 AM – LWT First Varsity Eight (Semifinals); Navy, Penn, Princeton, Yale; top-3 to Grand Final, remainder to Petite Final
9:20 AM – HWT Second Varsity Eight (Heat #2); Jacksonville, Navy, Oregon State, Penn, Princeton, Yale; top-3 to AB semis, remainder to CD semis
10:20 AM – HWT Third Varsity Eight (Heat #4); California, Navy, Penn, Yale; top-3 to AB semis, remainder to CD semis
11:20 AM - HWT Varsity Four, Time Trials ... top-12 to ABC semis, remainder to DEF semis
11:20 AM - LWT Varsity Four, Time Trials ... all boats to AB semis
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4:30/4:40/4:50 PM – HWT First Varsity Four (Semifinals ABC)
5:00/5:10/5:20 PM – HWT First Varsity Four (Semifinals DEF)
4:30/4:40 PM – LWT First Varsity Four (Semifinals AB)
Saturday
8:50/9:00 or 9:50/10:00 AM – HWT First Varsity Semifinals (AB or CD)
9:10/9:20 or 10:10/10:20 AM – HWT Second Varsity Semifinals (AB or CD)
9:30/9:40 AM – HWT Third Varsity Semifinals (AB)
10:30/10:40/10:50/11:00 AM – HWT First Varsity Four (F, E, D, C Finals)
11:10/11:40 AM – LWT First Varsity Four (Petite-Grand Finals)
11:20/11:50 AM – HWT First Varsity Four (Petite-Grand Finals)
Sunday
8:40/9:00/10:00/10:10 – HWT Second Varsity Eight Finals (D-C-Petite-Grand Finals)
8:50/9:30/9:40 AM – HWT Third Varsity Eight Finals (C-Petite-Grand Finals)
9:10/9:20/10:50/11:00 AM – HWT First Varsity Eight Finals (D-C-Petite-Grand Finals)
950 AM – LWT Second Varsity Eight (Grand Final)
10:30/10:40 AM – LWT First Varsity Eight (Petite-Grand Finals)
