June 5, 2008

CAMDEN, N.J. - It was a series of ups and downs on the first day of racing at the 106th Intercollegiate Rowing Association (IRA) National Championships. All boats but one remain in contention for a spot in the grand final. However, the paths they've taken to get there differ greatly.

In its heat, the varsity eight did not finish in the top two. Brown (5:51.292) and Harvard (5:52.933) finished ahead of Yale (5:57.971), with the Crimson finishing 5.038 seconds ahead of the Bulldogs. Yale narrowly defeated Harvard at Eastern Sprints to advance to the grand final, leaving Harvard to race in the petite final. However at the IRA, unlike at Sprints, there exists the repechage. The Bulldog varsity raced again in the afternoon and won their repechage, coming 3.564 seconds ahead of second-place Boston University. The Bulldogs will thus race in the semifinals at noon on Friday to contest a spot in the grand final.

The varsity eight is composed of Pieter Morgan (stroke), Andrew Collard (seven), Jack Vogelsang (six), James Tormey (five), Henry Cole (four), Lucas Spielfogel (three), Sean Hurley (two), Erik Woelber (bow) and Michael Ciccotti (cox).

The No. 6 freshman eight perhaps found the most success on the first day of racing. It came to its heat ranked behind No. 3 Princeton and left ahead - 5.306 seconds ahead, to be exact. After winning their heat outright, the freshmen Bulldogs will race in the Friday-afternoon semifinals at 1:12 p.m. to contest a spot in the grand final.

The freshman eight consists of Benjamin Grant (stroke), Duncan Logie (seven), Marcos Carzolio (six), Nathaniel Reeve (five), Ezra Mitchell (four), Matthew Ramlow (three), Daniel Klassen (two), Spyridon Mastroyannis (bow) and Carolyn Tobkin (cox).

The second varsity eight did not perform quite as well. In its morning heat, it came in fourth behind Cornell (5:59.616), Harvard (6:03.468) and Columbia (6:10.473) with a time of 6:12.181. This 1.708-second loss to Columbia is an upset considering that the second varsity beat the Lions convincingly by nearly nine seconds at the Blackwell Cup and by just over seven seconds at Eastern Sprints. The 2V then raced in the afternoon repechage, coming in third behind Princeton (6:06.700) and Navy (6:09.044) with a time of 6:09.827. This .783-second loss to Navy is also an upset considering that the second varsity beat Navy in the petite final at Sprints by nearly two seconds. The 2V will therefore race in the 11:48 a.m. semifinal to contest a spot in the third-level final.

The Yale second varsity consists of Keir Evans (stroke), Nolan Maher (seven), Matthew Barber (six), Max Kramer (five), Antonio Sirianni (four), Sean Riordan (three), Tyler Guth (two), David Mcintosh (bow) and Rebecca Burgoyne-Allen (cox).

In other boats, results were also mixed but all still have shots at the grand finals. The pair and open four did not finish first in their heats. They will therefore go to the repechages at 7:48 a.m. and 8:12 a.m., respectively, to contest the remaining spots in their grand finals.

In the time trials, the freshman four came in 7th and the varsity four 8th, overall. This means that both both boats move on to the "A" and "B" semifinals and have the opportunity to qualify for the petite and grand finals. The freshman four will race in its semifinal at 9:00 a.m. The varsity four will race at 2:00 p.m. in its semifinal.

Live coverage of the Friday semifinals can again be accessed by clicking here.

Report filed by Dominique Fenton '10, Yale Sports Publicity