CAMDEN, N.J. – The Navy lightweight rowing team concluded its racing at the 2025 IRA National Championship on Sunday with its top two crews taking one final trip down the Cooper River. The Mids' first varsity eight boat highlighted the day of action as it challenged the nation's best in the classification's grand final.
With the opportunity to race for the national title, Navy's first varsity eight was locked in and ready to go on Sunday. One of six crews vying for the title, the Mids raced against the Harvard Crimson, Dartmouth Big Green, MIT Engineers, Penn Quakers and Princeton Tigers in the grand final. The six teams all broke out at the start nearly in-sync as first place Harvard was only 1.578 seconds ahead of sixth place Navy at the quarter mark. The Crimson continued to pace the field for the next 500 meters with the Big Green and Quakers close behind. The Mids were only 2.77 seconds back of the Quakers and in strong contact with the Tigers and Engineers at the half-way point.
The big move in the grand final occurred over the next quarter of the race as Harvard and Dartmouth pulled away with an over three-second gap between them and the now third place MIT squad. Navy found itself well within striking distance of the bronze medal position with a 2.605-second deficit to MIT, though it would also have to surpass Penn and Princeton to achieve that as the Mids sat in sixth at the 1,500-meter marker. With only 500 meters left, the crew of
Frank Keusenkothen (Jr., Reston, Va.),
Nani Veluchamy (Jr., Naperville, Ill.),
Paddy McNamara (Jr., Philadelphia, Pa.),
Mason Banks (Sr., Westport, Conn.),
Brooks Kirchen (Sr., Dallas, Texas),
Jonathan Sauer (Sr., Princeton Junction, N.J.),
Decker Moy-Jacobs (So., Fairfax, Va.),
Luca Mezzanotte (So., Belmont, Mass.) and coxswain
Mia Sachs (Sr., Herndon, Va.) emptied the tank for one last push for glory. Aggressive in their the approach down the stretch, the Mids' effort was matched by the other five crews and they crossed the finish line in sixth place with a time of 5:41.030. Harvard won the V8 gold medal at 5:29.620, while Dartmouth and MIT rounded out the medal stand with times of 5:32.250 and 5:34.390, respectively. Penn (5:34.910) and Princeton (5:36.750) placed fourth and fifth for their efforts.
Navy's second varsity eight crew was also in action on the Cooper River with a head-to-head bout with Georgetown in the two-team petite final for its classification. The Mids in the 2V8 were looking to avenge a regular season loss to the Hoyas from April 12 that was decided by 2.7 seconds, 5:50.6 to 5:53.3. The grudge match on Sunday lived up to its billing as the boats were separated by 0.516 seconds at the 500-meter mark and 0.93 seconds at the half-way point.
Trailing Georgetown at both checkpoints, Navy continued to battle in a stroke-for-stroke competition over the second 1,000 meters of the race, though the Hoyas slowly began to take seats as they were up 1.751 seconds at the three-quarter mark before grabbing the victory by 1.980 seconds, 5:46.520 to 5:48.500. With that runner-up result, the Mids' 2V8 crew finishes the season ranked eighth nationally.
Racing in the 2V8 over the weekend was the extremely young crew of
John Michael Blake (Fr., Northfield, Ill.),
Noah Ferguson (So., El Dorado Hills, Calif.),
Emmett Sullivan (Fr., Whitefish Bay, Wisc.),
Leo Wagner (Sr., St. Louis, Mo.),
Graham Young (Fr., Piedmont, Calif.),
Sam Rembold (So., Beaufort, S.C.),
Alexander Kaiser (Fr., Belmont, Calif.),
Chirag Chandnani (So., Mountain Lakes, N.J.) and coxswain
Christian Ramos (So., Miami, Fla.).
In addition to the 23 athletes that competed in Navy's V8, 2V8 and V4 crews at the IRAs, senior
Ramon Mendoza (Los Banos, Calif.) and sophomore
Owen Maloney (Dubuque, Iowa) supported the team in its training and preparation as spare athletes.
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At the conclusion of the racing, Navy finished sixth in the team points trophy standings with 28.5 points. Harvard claimed the national team title as it bested Dartmouth by nine points in the standings, 54 to 45. Penn grabbed the final spot on the medal stand with 43.5 points. The rest of the top five saw Princeton in fourth with 37.5 points and MIT just ahead of Navy with 30 points. Georgetown (27), Columbia (27) and Yale (25.5) completed the leaderboard in positions seven through nine.
"Overall it was a positive weekend for the team, with both our Varsity 4+ and 1st Varsity 8+ earning positions in the Grand Final," remarked head coach
Shawn Bagnall. "The 2nd Varsity put together a great final, and that very young lineup will bring that race experience to their racing in the future.Â
"We always train to put ourselves in a position to medal in the final races of the year, and unfortunately, we fell short of that this year. That being said, our Varsity 4+ coached by Coach Herrick had a great IRA Camp after Sprints, and made it back to the Grand Final this year in a very competitive field. The 1st Varsity 8+ finished ahead of its seeding for the regatta, and I am excited about the parts of that lineup that will return next year.Â
"We will miss the exceptional leadership and racing experience that our newly commissioned Officers brought to the table all four of their years. I am grateful for their contribution to the legacy of the Navy Lightweights. They will do outstanding things in the U.S. Fleet in service to our country, and I could not be more proud to be their coach. It was exciting to see our Heavyweight Team racing at a high level in Camden, and hats off to Coach Gladstone and Coach Fluhr on their success. Without a doubt, there is no better time to be a Naval Academy Oarsman or Coxswain. Go Navy."
Race Results
First Varsity Eight
Sixth of 6 in Grand Final
Harvard – 5:29.620
Dartmouth – 5:32.250
MIT – 5:34.390
Penn – 5:34.910
Princeton – 5:36.750
Navy – 5:41.030 **6th in the Nation
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Second Varsity Eight
Second of 2 in Petite Final
Georgetown – 5:46.520
Navy – 5:48.500 **8th in Nation
Varsity Four
Fifth of 6 in Grand Final
Georgetown – 6:23.900
Mercyhurst – 6:24.410
Penn – 6:26.420
Harvard – 6:26.760
Navy – 6:33.330 **5th in the Nation
Columbia – 6:35.450
Boat Lineups
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