CAMDEN, N.J. –  The Navy heavyweight rowing program wrapped up racing at the IRA National Championship Regatta on Sunday with its top three varsity eight crews in action on the Cooper River. The Mids' first varsity eight highlighted the day as they showcased their top speed in the petite final, while their second and third varsity eight crews raced in third-level finals.

Racing for the opportunity to finish as high as seventh in the nation, Navy's first varsity eight crew knew that they faced a stiff challenge with teams like No. 1 seed California, No. 5 Yale, No. 7 Stanford, No. 9 Penn and No. 10 Northeastern in the six-team field. Competitive during the early segments of the contest, the Mids were sixth after the opening sprint and crossed the 500-meter marker at 1:20.714 and 1,000-meter marker at 2:45.350.

At that mid-way point, the crew of Robert Sherman (Jr., Riverside, Conn.), Turner Coomes (Fr., Philadelphia, Pa.), Matthew Wainwright (So., Bordentown, N.J.), Edward Winkler (So., Golden Valley, Minn.), Ben Vogel (Jr., Arlington, Va.), Nathan Pawlowicz (Jr., Augusta, Mich.), Matt Lexa (Sr., Wynnewood, Pa.), Nathaniel Duffy (So., Fairfield, Conn.) and coxswain George Bentley (Fr., Fairfield, Conn.) was holding onto contact with third-place Stanford, fourth-place Yale and fifth-place Penn as those four crews were within 4.26 seconds of each other. As the action moved through the final 1,000 meters of the Cooper River course, Navy slowly lost seats and contact with the previously mentioned squads and crossed the finish line with an extremely competitive time of 5:34.340, its fastest of the three-day regatta.

California won the petite final at 5:24.040 to finish seventh in the nation with Northeastern close behind at 5:25.450. Stanford (5:27.110), Penn (5:27.320) and Yale (5:28.010) all finished within a second of each other for positions three through five in the race. Navy's sixth-place result ranked them 12th in the nation at the championship.

The second crew on the waters of the Cooper River was Navy's second varsity eight, that consisted of Sawyer Stevens (Sr., Scott City, Kan.), George Wright (Sr., Chippewa Bay, N.Y.), Will Holsinger (Sr., Columbus, Ohio), Duncan Ayles (Sr., Westwood, Mass.), Colin Lang (Jr., Trappe, Md.), John McNicholas (Sr., Lloyd Harbor, N.Y.), Stan Allman (So., Honolulu, Hawai'i), Jackson Fagg (So., Alamo, Calif.) and coxswain Tyler Smolensky (So., Red Bank, N.J.). Competing in a six-team C Final, the Mids found themselves fighting out of an early hole as a tough opening sprint left them in sixth place, 0.604 seconds behind UC San Diego at the quarter mark. During the next 500 meters, the Mids crept up on the Tritons and shaved 0.104 seconds off their deficit to trail by just 0.5 seconds halfway through the race.

Navy passed UC San Diego prior to the 1,500-meter checkpoint and took aim at Temple for its final push. Aware of their new challenge, the Owls counteracted the Mids' last sprint and held on for fourth place, 5:49.740 to 5:54.560. The Tritons stumbled down the stretch and finished sixth of six teams at 5:59.130. With this result, Navy's 2V8 completed the regatta in 17th place.
 
Navy's third varsity eight was also active in a C Final on Sunday. One of seven crews in the field for positions 13 through 19, the Mids came out of the blocks on a mission as they posted the fastest opening 500-meter mark, 0.04 seconds ahead of the Oregon State Beavers and 0.48 better than the Holy Cross Crusaders. Wisconsin joined that streaking trio over the ensuing 500 meters of racing and pulled into second place, trailing only Navy, 2:53.200 to 2:53.550 at the half-way point. The Mids and Badgers continued to pace the field for the next quarter and were separated by just 0.356 seconds at the 1,500-meter marker. A wild final 500 meters saw multiple position swaps down the stretch as Wisconsin pulled into the lead and Holy Cross came up from third place to nip Navy at the finish line. When the dust had settled the Badgers were victorious with a 5:50.080 time, while the Crusaders were 0.17 seconds ahead of the Mids, 5:50.590 to 5:50.760. Oregon State was over six seconds back of Navy in fourth at 5:56.870.

With that third place result in the C Final, the crew of Greyson Goddard (Jr., Ward, Ark.), Harrison Kaplan (Sr., Charlotte, N.C.), Hunter Golly (Sr., Orem, Utah), Ryley Keegan (Springfield, Mass.), Reed Romo (Sr., Annapolis, Md.), Ryan Hollenbach (Sr., Davidsonville, Md.), Matthew Simmons (So., Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y.), Wyatt Campagna (Fr., San Diego, Calif.) and coxswain Jonathan Leite (So., Guilford, Conn.) finished the year ranked 15th nationally.
 
"This weekend was a terrific step forward for the program, setting up a great base for next year," remarked Steve Gladstone, the Tom and Candy Knudson Navy Heavyweight Rowing Coach.

In addition to the 27 athletes that competed in Navy's V8, 2V8 and 3V8 crews at the IRAs, freshmen John Macke (San Diego, Calif.) and Jackson Rigney (Lake Oswego, Ore.) supported the team in its training and preparation as spare athletes.
 
At the conclusion of the racing, Navy finished 15th in the team points trophy standings with 127 points, just four points shy of 14th-place Boston University (131) and eight off of Wisconsin's 135. Washington claimed the national team title as it bested Harvard by six points, 285 to 279. California grabbed the final spot on the medal stand with 244 points.

"It was really exciting to see each crew put it all out there in some very tight racing against other top programs from around the country," commented Associate Head Coach Matt Fluhr. "The performance by the entire team this weekend demonstrated the hard work they put in this season and showed the potential of the squad as we continue to build the program in the years to come."

Race Results
First Varsity Eight
Sixth of 6 in Petite Final
Cal – 5:24.040
Northeastern – 5:25.450
Stanford – 5:27.110
Penn – 5:27.320
Yale – 5:28.010
Navy – 5:34.340  **12th in the Nation
 
Second Varsity Eight
Fifth of 6 in C Final
Cornell – 5:41.200
Wisconsin – 5:41.740
Columbia – 5:46.060
Temple – 5:49.740
Navy – 5:54.560  **17th in Nation
UC San Diego – 5:59.130
 
Third Varsity Eight
Third of 7 in C Final
Wisconsin – 5:50.080
Holy Cross – 5:50.590
Navy – 5:50.760  **14th in Nation
Oregon State – 5:56.870
Georgetown – 6:06.080
La Salle – 6:08.880
Temple – 6:13.200

Boat Lineups

	First Varsity Eight	Second Varsity Eight	Third Varsity Eight	Spare Athletes
Bow	Robert Sherman	Sawyer Stevens	Greyson Goddard
2	Turner Coomes	George Wright	Harrison Kaplan	John Macke
3	Matthew Wainwright	Will Holsinger	Hunter Golly	Jackson Rigney
4	Edward Winkler	Duncan Ayles	Ryley Keegan
5	Ben Vogel	Colin Lang	Reed Romo
6	Nathan Pawlowicz	John McNicholas	Ryan Hollenbach
7	Matt Lexa	Stan Allman	Matthew Simmons
Str.	Nathaniel Duffy	Jackson Fagg	Wyatt Campagna
Cox.	George Bentley	Tyler Smolensky	Jonathan Leite