Pair of Lightweight Crews Advance to Grand Finals at the IRAs

Mids’ V8 and V4 will race for national titles

CAMDEN, N.J. – The Navy lightweight crew programs had a successful start to its weekend at the 2025 IRA National Championship Regatta with two of its boats advancing to grand finals. Entering three crews over the first and second varsity eight and first varsity four classifications for racing on the Cooper River, the Mids' V8 and V4 both earned the opportunity to compete for national titles by finishing within the top three of both of their semifinal contests on Friday.

The first varsity eight kicked off its action with competition against Princeton, Penn and Georgetown in heat number two of its classification. In a fairly straightforward race, the Tigers broke out to an early lead following the opening sprint and lead wire-to-wire with the fastest times at the 500-, 1,000- and 1,500-meter checkpoints before crossing the finish line first at 5:43.090. Even though Princeton controlled the action, Penn, Navy and Georgetown found itself in stroke-for-stroke racing with the Quakers edging the Mids by 0.344 seconds at the quarter mark and 1.1 seconds at the mid-way mark. Knowing that it needed to hold off Georgetown for the final promotion spot, the Mids were up 0.47 seconds on the Hoyas after 1,000 meters and 0.584 seconds after 1,500 meters. Fending off Georgetown and chasing Penn, Navy's V8 was up to the task in the final quarter of the race as it pulled within 1.07 seconds of Penn at the finish line to hold onto third place with a 5:44.950 time versus a 5:43.880 mark for the Quakers. The Hoyas didn't have an answer for the Mids' final push and clocked in at 5:47.110.

With that result, Navy will go up against Dartmouth, Harvard, MIT, Penn and Princeton on Sunday morning in the grand final at 11:40 a.m. with a chance to claim the V8 national title.

Navy's varsity four crew will also race for national glory following a busy Friday. One of 10 boats participating in the event, the Mids began by laying down the third fastest result in the time trial qualification at 6:15.141. Only Harvard and Georgetown were faster with respective times of 6:11.611 and 6:12.840.

Just over five hours later, Navy's V4 was back at it in the AB Semifinals. Aiming to claim one of the three advancement positions, the Mids achieved that with a strong effort that saw them cross each of the quarter poles in second place. Keeping in contact with first place Columbia throughout the race, Navy made sure that Georgetown and MIT stayed behind them. At the half-way point, the Mids were only 2.53 seconds behind the Lions' pace and 0.60 ahead of the Hoyas and 1.52 better than the Engineers. Georgetown tightened its gap to Navy with only 0.025 seconds of separation at the 1,500-meter mark before the Mids turned on the gas during their final sprint to the finish line to claim second place by 3.81 seconds, 6:30.490 to 6:34.300, over the Hoyas. Columbia was the outright winner with a 6:28.190 time, while MIT ended up fourth at 6:40.300.

Navy's V4 will have a quick turnaround for their grand final race as they're queued up for action at 2:50 p.m. on Saturday afternoon against Columbia, Georgetown, Harvard, Mercyhurst and Penn.

The third crew in action for Navy on Friday was its second varsity eight. Coming out of the opening sprint in fourth place, the Mids locked in on catching up and passing either the Princeton Tigers or Columbia Lions over the ensuing five-plus minutes of racing. At the 1,000-meter marker, Navy pulled within 2.3 seconds of Columbia and 2.32 of Princeton. While the Lions edged in front of the Tigers over the second half of the race, the Mids were never able to make that final move and missed qualifying for the grand final as they completed the race in fourth place with a 6:01.540 time, 7.37 seconds shy of third-place Princeton.

Navy's 2V8 will conclude their time at the regatta on Sunday morning at 9:50 with action in the petite final.

Race Results
First Varsity Eight
Third of 4 in Heat 2
Princeton – 5:43.090
Penn – 5:43.880
Navy – 5:44.950
Georgetown – 5:47.110
    Next Up: Grand Final – Sunday, 11:40 a.m.

Second Varsity Eight
Fourth of 4 in Heat 1
Harvard – 5:49.930
Columbia – 5:53.020
Princeton – 5:54.170
Navy – 6:01.540
    Next Up: Petite Final – Sunday, 9:50 a.m.

Varsity Four
3rd of 10 in Time Trial, 6:15.141
2nd of 5 in Semifinal 2
Columbia – 6:28.190
Navy – 6:30.490
Georgetown – 6:34.300
MIT – 6:40.300
Gordon College – 7:27.740
    Next Up: Grand Final – Saturday, 2:50 p.m.

Boat Lineups

	First Varsity Eight	Second Varsity Eight
Bow	Frank Keusenkothen	John Michael Blake
2	Nani Veluchamy	Noah Ferguson
3	Paddy McNamara	Emmett Sullivan
4	Mason Banks	Leo Wagner
5	Brooks Kirchen	Graham Young
6	Jonathan Sauer	Sam Rembold
7	Decker Moy-Jacobs	Alexander Kaiser
Str.	Luca Mezzanotte	Chirag Chandnani
Cox.	Mia Sachs	Christian Ramos