CAMDEN, N.J. – The Navy heavyweight rowing program had two of its three crews in action on Saturday afternoon at the 2025 IRA National Championship Regatta. The Mids' top two boats were competing in semifinal races with their eyes locked on advancement into Sunday's finals. Navy's second varsity eight led the program's effort on the Cooper River as it placed second in its respective race.

Taking part in the second CD Semifinal for the second varsity eight classification on Saturday, the Mids' 2V8 was fighting for the right to race in Sunday's C Final for positions 13-18 in the nation. An extremely competitive field saw the top four boats in the open the race within 0.984 seconds of each other at the 500-meter mark. The top three crews slowly put two-plus seconds of separation between themselves and the fourth-place Georgetown Hoyas. Navy was second behind Wisconsin at the first checkpoint and third at the mid-way mark as Columbia moved slightly ahead by 0.02 seconds.

In the second half of the race, the Mids passed the Lions and nearly pulled even with the Badgers during the third quarter as the two squads were just 0.251 seconds apart through 1,500 meters. The stroke-for-stroke battle between Wisconsin and Navy continued through the final sprint as Badgers held on for the wire-to-wire victory by 0.71 seconds over the Mids, 5:46.110 to 5:46.820. The Lions grabbed the last C Final berth with a third-place time of 5:47.790 that cleared the Hoyas (5:52.110) by over four seconds. The C Final is scheduled for 9:04 a.m. on Sunday morning.

Navy's first varsity eight aimed to build off Friday's momentum that saw it blow past its pre-regatta seeding of 20 and garner one of the 12 spots in the competition's AB Semifinals.

The Mids were competitive throughout the first half of the race with just a 1.132-second gap between them and the Brown Bears in an early battle for fifth place at the quarter mark. Navy and Brown continued in contact with each other over the next 500 meters as they also moved up into contact with Penn. At the mid-way point, the Quakers were fourth (2:43.010) ahead of the Bears (2:43.830) and the Mids (2:47.210). As Brown made its move up the standings into third place with a near six-second advantage over Navy through 1,500 meters, the Mids tried valiantly to hang onto the tail of the Quakers during the second half of the contest before slowing its stroke race late to preserve some energy for Sunday's final action.
 
After posting a time of 5:39.510 on Friday, the Mids nearly mirrored that result with a time of 5:39.760 on Saturday. Unfortunately for Navy, that time placed them sixth in the six-team heat and 11th overall of the 12 V8s that raced in AB Semifinals. The Mids will fight for positions 6-12 in Sunday's petite final that is slated for 11:50 a.m.

The three-day national regatta will wrap up on Sunday for Navy starting at 8:56 a.m. when its 3V8 crew competes in its corresponding C Final.

Race Results
First Varsity Eight
Sixth of 6 in AB Semifinal #2
Washington – 5:24.800
Dartmouth – 5:25.590
Brown – 5:25.980
Yale – 5:26.480
Penn – 5:29.210
Navy – 5:39.760
    Next Up: Petite Final – Sunday, 11:50 a.m.
 
Second Varsity Eight
Second of 5 in CD Semifinal #2
Wisconsin – 5:46.110
Navy – 5:46.820
Columbia – 5:47.790
Georgetown – 5:52.110
Holy Cross – 6:02.930
    Next Up: Third Final – Sunday, 9:04 a.m.

Boat Lineups

	First Varsity Eight	Second Varsity Eight
Bow	Robert Sherman	Sawyer Stevens
2	Turner Coomes	George Wright
3	Matthew Wainwright	Will Holsinger
4	Edward Winkler	Duncan Ayles
5	Ben Vogel	Colin Lang
6	Nathan Pawlowicz	John McNicholas
7	Matt Lexa	Stan Allman
Str.	Nathaniel Duffy	Jackson Fagg
Cox.	George Bentley	Tyler Smolensky