UW through to the Grand Finals in all eight; Four Small Final victories

WEST WINDSOR, NJ The Washington men’s rowing team saw its three eight-oared crews earn places in the grand final of the IRA Championship regatta, with two wins and a second-place finish in Saturday’s semi-final at Mercer Lake.

The Huskies will row for the nationals in the first, second and third varsity eights on Sunday. UW was one of only three programs to earn a berth in all three Grand Finals, along with California and Yale.

Also on Saturday, Washington’s four-man varsity team closed out its season with a victory in the small final, placing this boat seventh overall.

Washington’s day began with the first of two A/B semifinals in the college eight. The favored California broke away from the starting docks in the lead with Harvard and Washington close behind. At 500 meters, the Bears led and the Crimsons passed the buoy just two hundredths of a second ahead of UW.

At 1,000 meters, the Huskies took second place and Harvard found itself in a fight for the third and final qualifying spot with Northeastern.

Cal held the lead the rest of the way with Washington staying in touch throughout. At the finish, Northeastern overtook neighbors Boston and finished third.

The Golden Bears won the semifinal with a time of 6:02.434, about six seats ahead of Washington (6:04.640). Northeastern was about eight-tenths of a second ahead of Harvard for third place.

Princeton, Yale and Syracuse advanced to the Grand Finals with top-three finishes in the other semifinal.

The Huskies won their second college eighth semifinal in wire-to-wire fashion, taking the lead from the start and maintaining essentially the same margin over second-placed Harvard over the full 2,000 meters. The Huskies won with a time of 6:15.581, 2.716 seconds ahead of the Crimsons (6:18.297).

Dartmouth were challenged by Princeton for third place qualification, but the Big Green pulled out at the end to advance to the Grand Final.

Cal, Yale and Brown advanced to the other semifinal.

Yale took the lead early in round three of eighth university, with Cal second and UW third. The Huskies quickly moved into second place and, before the 1,000-yard mark, had passed through Yale in first place.

The Huskies, seeded No. 1 overall in the 3V8+, rebounded from a second-place finish in an inning Friday to dominate the second half of the race and win with a final time of 6; 29.185. Cal (6:32.235) and Yale (6:33.675) finished comfortably in the other two qualifying spots.

Harvard, Brown and Dartmouth qualified for the grand finale of the other 3V8+ semi-final.

4 University of Washington was placed in the small final (places 7 to 12) after the semifinals were canceled due to bad weather on Friday afternoon.

The Huskies took the lead from the starting dock and crossed 500 yards ahead, but in the second 500 yards, Harvard and Holy Cross moved ahead of the Huskies.

Washington moved back to second place, behind the Crimsons, by 1,500 meters and, in the final sprint, just surged to the finish.

All four Huskies won the race with a time of 7:11.053 while Harvard finished second, in 7:11.721. Holy Cross retained third place.

Here is the full schedule for Sunday’s Grand Finals (revised 9:50 a.m. PT Saturday):

6:04 a.m. PT, Third Eighth University Grand Finals
Lanes 2-7: Yale, Brown, Washington, Harvard, California, Dartmouth

6:28 a.m. PT, second Varsity Eight Grand Finals
Lanes 2-7: Dartmouth, Yale, Washington, California, Harvard, Brown

7:08 a.m. PT Varsity Eight Grand Final
Lanes 2-7: Northeast, Yale, California, Princeton, Washington, Syracuse.

WASHINGTON TIMETABLE

eighth university
Shell: ShoeDawg
Coxswain: Nick Dunlop (Psychology)
Stroke: Darcy McCluskey (Environmental Studies)
7: Jack Walker (International Security)
6: Logan Ullrich (Food Systems, Nutrition & Health)
5: Povilas Juskevicius (Pre-Major/Computer Science)
4: Joel Cullen (post-baccalaureate study)
3: Blake Bradshaw (Geography)
2: Cameron Tasker (Political economics)
Bow: Maximum heat (Finance)

Second University Eight
Shell: Brett “Big Red” Reisinger ’98
Coxswain: Kieran Joyce (Pre-Major/Business)
Stroke: Max Mason (Economy)
7: Robert Pluijmert (Biochemistry)
6: Gus Altucher (Philosophy)
5: Blake Vogel (Real estate)
4: Pablo Matan (Philosophy; Political Economy)
3: Luke Henry (Real estate)
2: Marius Ahlsand (Pre-Major/Political Economy)
Bow: Ethan Blight (Food Systems, Nutrition & Health)

Third University Eight
Shell: Chuck Holtz III
Coxswain: Zach Casler (MS in Information Management)
Stroke: Michael Thiers (International Security)
7: Harry Fitzpatrick (Pre-major/Communication)
6: well short (pre-major/economics)
5: Adam Krull (Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology)
4: Archie Drummond (Global and Regional Studies)
3: Jonathan Wang Norderud (pre-major/economics)
2: Nils Vorberg (International Studies; Political Economy)
Bow: Julius Acernese (Political economics)

university four
Shell: George Yeoman Pocock
Stroke: MaxTaylor (Pre-Major/Political Economy)
3: Ethan Walsh (Pre-Major/Biology)
2: Ryan Smith (pre-major/economics)
Bow: Louis Gallia IV (Real estate)
Coxswain: Tess Kadien (Journalism)

Spare parts
Alexandre Gonin (Pre-Major/Biology)
Quinn Room (Pre-Major/Computer Science)
Athena Baches (Physics & Astronomy)