WEST WINDSOR, N.J. – The Navy lightweight rowing team kicked off the first of three days of action at the 2024 IRA National Championship with three crews racing a total of four times on Friday. Taking on the nation's best over a 2,000-meter course on Mercer Lake, the Mids saw its top-two varsity eight crews turn in strong qualifying efforts that advanced them into Sunday's grand final. In addition to Navy's first and second varsity eight crews, the Mids' varsity four raced twice on Friday, once in a time trial and later in a semifinal.
The first varsity eight was locked in from the start of its heat race and sprinted out into second place behind just Penn by 1.38 seconds at the 500-meter mark. The Mids continued to stay in stride with the Quakers and trailed by only 1.35 seconds at the mid-way point of the race. Penn and Navy kept at the front of the field for the next 500 meters, though a fast sector time by Princeton entered the Tigers into a three-way tussle. Down the stretch, Princeton duplicated that effort and edged ahead of Navy at the finish line to grab second place. At the conclusion of 2,000 meters, the Quakers clocked in first at 5:37.126, while Princeton placed second at 5:40.026 and Navy third at 5:42.173. Yale was off the pace in fourth at 5:53.363. The Mids' result qualified them for Sunday's grand final, that is scheduled for 10:40 a.m.
Navy's second varsity eight crew's qualifying heat followed a similar route as the Mids opened their race in second place, trailing just Harvard at the quarter mark, 1:26.270 to 1:26.990. The Crimson and Mids stayed aligned over the next 1,000 meters as Harvard led by 0.922 seconds at the mid-point and 0.53 seconds at the three-quarter mark. A hard-charging Princeton crew nipped Navy for second place at the finish line by only 0.023 seconds, 5:55.510 to 5:55.533. Harvard held on for the wire-to-wire victory with a time of 5:53.277. Cornell placed fourth at 5:58.350 ahead of Yale at 5:59.927. Dartmouth (6:01.820) and Penn (6:02.877) rounded out the seven-team single-heat competition. All seven teams will advance to Sunday's grand final (9:50 a.m.) as Friday's race helped set the lane selection.
One of 11 teams entered in the varsity four lightweight contest, Navy's crew posted a morning time trial result of 6:27.056 that originally ranked eighth. Racing again as part of semifinal number one in the late afternoon, the Mids broke out into third place over the opening 500 meters with a time of 1:36.080 that trailed Columbia and Georgetown, but was 0.48 seconds ahead of Cornell. The Lions and Hoyas held those top-two positions for the remaining 1,500 meters, though the Big Red bolted the Mids during the second quarter of the contest. The race for the third and final grand final qualifying position went the way of Cornell as its V4 bested Navy at each of the last two quarter poles to clock in at 6:28.935 versus a 6:37.562 time for the Mids. Navy's V4 will conclude its action at the IRAs on Saturday morning as part of the petite final at 11:10 a.m.
The slate for the Navy lightweights on Saturday morning is limited to just the V4 petite final as both the V8 and 2V8 grand finals will go off on Sunday morning.
Race Results
First Varsity Eight
Third of 4 in Heat 2
Penn - 5:37.126
Princeton – 5:40.026
Navy – 5:42.173
Yale – 5:53.363
  Next Up: Grand Final – Sunday, 10:40 AM
Second Varsity Eight
Third of 7 in Heat 1
Harvard – 5:53.277
Princeton – 5:55.510
Navy – 5:55.533
Cornell – 5:58.350
Yale – 5:59.927
Dartmouth – 6:01.820
Penn – 6:02.877
  Next Up: Grand Final – Sunday, 9:50 AM
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Varsity Four
Eighth of 11 in Time Trial – 6:27.056
Fourth of 5 in Semifinal 1
Columbia – 6:24.149
Georgetown – 6:26.255
Cornell – 6:28.935
Navy – 6:37.562
Dartmouth – 6:56.525
  Next Up: Petite Final – Saturday, 11:10 AM
Boat Lineups
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