PENNSAUKEN, N.J. – The Navy women's rowing team left it all out on the line on Friday as its four-boat fleet aimed to climb back atop the podium at the Patriot League Championship. After a morning of fast qualifying times put the Mids in position to succeed in a quartet of grand finals on the Cooper River in the afternoon, Navy's second varsity eight and both of its first and second varsity four crews all claimed silver medals to leave the team, just three points out of first with one race to go. Unfortunately for Navy, the action in the first varsity eight competition didn't break its way and Boston University was able to defend its crown as the 2025 Patriot League Champion.
In the final standings, Boston's victories in the first varsity eight, as well as in the first and second varsity four contests resulted in 289.5 points and the team title. Georgetown edged MIT for second place by 3.5 points, 267 to 263.5. Navy finished just off the podium in fourth place with 204 points. The rest of the leaderboard consisted of Bucknell in fifth at 193, Colgate in sixth at 131, Holy Cross in seventh at 127.5 with Lehigh and Loyola rounding out the competition in eighth and ninth place at 66.5 and 55.5, respectively.
"There was some tough, gritty racing out there today," remarked head coach
Joe Schlosberg. "We had some great performances, but fell short in the end."
The action in the afternoon kicked off with the first-ever second varsity four grand final. Boston University broke out to an open water advantage within the first 500 meters and never looked back. Initially trailing Georgetown following the opening sprint, Navy took advantage of a stearing issue by the Hoyas and quickly settled into second place. The Mids withstood periodical moves by the MIT Engineers as the two boats were nearly even with over 1,500 meters of the race in the book. MIT pushed ahead for a brief segment down the final stretch, but Navy's crew had enough in the tank to place second by 1.807 seconds, 8:21.443 to 8:23.250 ahead of MIT.
Next up was the grand final of the first varsity four. With the opening sprint behind them, BU, Navy and Georgetown pulled away from the second half of the field. Closing in on the midway mark of the race, the Terriers advanced up the Mids' boat and had a small margin of open water. Likewise, Navy had a slight bit of open water over Georgetown at the same juncture. Over the final 500 meters of action, the Mids came back in contact with the Terriers and made a race of it to the finish line. BU answered Navy's comeback attempt and took the victory, 7:36.502 to 7:40.584. Georgetown clocked in 9.027 seconds back at 7:49.611.
The third contest of Friday afternoon for the Mids was the second varsity eight grand final. A similar alignment of BU, Navy and Georgetown sprinted out to an initial lead through the first 500 meters. The Hoyas moved to the front of the pack as the race neared the hallway point with the Terriers slightly ahead of the Mids. Inching into the lead pack, MIT started pulling into contact with both Navy and BU. With less than 500 meters to the finish, the Hoyas were over seven seats up on the Mids and Terriers, who were locked in a stroke-for-stroke competition for second place. Down the stretch, Navy charged up Georgetown's boat and pulled within four seats, but came up just short of the victory, while MIT sprinted pass BU to grab the final podium position. The Hoyas posted a time of 6:58.332, 1.938 seconds ahead of the Mids' 7:00.270; the Engineers garnered the bronze medal at 7:00.843.
Everything was up for grabs going into the first varsity eight races as the top-three teams were separated by less than 20 points as Georgetown led with 127 points, three ahead of Navy (124) and 17.5 ahead of Boston's 109.5-point total. With the added 2V4 event and new scoring system, every position in the leaderboard of the V8 race was worth 20 points starting with 180 for the winner. BU made sure they'd be back in the NCAA Championship as the automatic qualifier from the Patriot League as they sprinted out to a half-boat lead and had a near open-water advantage following 500 meters of racing. Rowing from the opposite side of the river in lane one, Navy was slightly off the pace and was battling with Colgate in fifth place as the race crossed the 1,000-meter mark. The Mids and Raiders caught up the Bucknell Bison and the race was on for fourth place. At the line, Bucknell had just enough left and finished fourth at 6:55.616, while Colgate took fifth and Navy sixth with times of 6:56.647 and 6:57.565, respectively.
At the conclusion of the action, Boston University earned the overall team title with 289.5 points over the four events. With that victory, the Terriers will earn the automatic berth into the 2025 NCAA Championship in West Windsor, N.J., the weekend of May 30-June 1.
"It's a difficult way to finish the season, but I'm extremely proud of the way this group worked through some rough stretches during the year and worked back to be in the conversation today," said Schlosberg in closing.
"We're a young team with tons of potential so the future is bright. Our seniors have done a great job of leading the program and making sure that Navy Women's Rowing will continue to thrive as they advance to careers in the fleet and in the corps. We thank them for their four years of hard work here at Navy."
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Race Results
First Varsity Eight
Heat 2; 3rd of 4 boats … 6:53.483
Grand Final
Boston Univ. – 6:42.587
MIT – 6:49.987
Georgetown – 6:52.805
Bucknell – 6:55.616
Colgate – 6:56.647
Navy – 6:57.565
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Second Varsity Eight
Heat 1; 1st of 5 boats … 6:59.804
Grand Final
Georgetown – 6:58.332
Navy – 7:00.270
MIT – 7:00.843
Boston Univ. – 7:03.530
Bucknell – 7:16.250
Holy Cross – 7:22.363
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First Varsity Four
Heat 2; 1st of 4 boats … 7:51.831
Grand Final
Boston Univ – 7:36.502
Navy – 7:40.584
Georgetown – 7:49.611
MIT – 8:10.109
Holy Cross – 8:22.480
Bucknell – 8:24.642
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Second Varsity Four
Heat 1; 2nd of 5 boats … 8:06.714
Grand Final
Boston Univ. – 7:57.821
Navy – 8:21.443
MIT – 8:23.250
Bucknell – 8:32.058
Holy Cross – 8:37.976
Georgetown – 10:42.376
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Boat Lineups
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