SACRAMENTO -- Northeastern men's rowing will participate in the 117th rowing of the IRA National Championships, beginning on Friday, May 31, on Lake Natoma in Sacramento, Calif. The Huskies will have four crews competing in the championship regatta in the first, second and third varsity eight boats, as well as the varsity four. All races this weekend can be streamed live through USRowing's YouTube page by
clicking here.
Heats get underway on Friday morning with the 1V at 11:30 a.m., followed by the 2V at 12:20 p.m., 3V at 1:10 p.m. and V4 at 2:10 p.m. All times are eastern. The top two finishers in each heat of the eights races will advance to the A/B Semifinals, while the other finishers are sent to the afternoon repechage. In the varsity four, only the winner of each heat will advance to the A/B Semifinal, with other finishers moving to the repechage.
Northeastern enters the weekend ranked seventh in the first varsity, eighth in the second varsity and ninth in the third varsity.
The men's heavyweight division has a full-field of 24 crews in the first varsity, while the second varsity and third varsity have 23 and 19 entries, respectively. The varsity four has 20 entries.
NU to make 52nd IRA appearance
The Huskies are making their 52nd appearance at the IRAs. Since 1965, Northeastern has appeared in all but three of the prestigious national championship regattas. NU has captured three first-place finishes at the national championship regatta—two by the varsity eight (1988, 1991) and one by the second varsity eight (1979). In total, Northeastern has appeared in 63 IRA grand finals (varsity eight: 20, second varsity eight: 25, third varsity eight: 2, freshman eight: 15, open four: 1).
Pojednic's crews at the IRA
This will be the 18th appearance for head coach
John Pojednic at the IRA National Championship. Under Pojednic, the Northeastern varsity has made the grand final six times, the second varsity grand five times, the third varsity twice and the first freshman three times, including a bronze-medal performance in 2012, and the open four once.
A look at the 2019 Huskies
Northeastern posted a 5-3 record in the regular regatta season, with the Huskies' varsity eight posting wins over No. 12 Pennsylvania, No. 18 Oregon State, No. 13 Stanford, No. 8 Boston University and No. 14 Wisconsin while taking No. 5 Brown and No. 3 Harvard down to the wire and giving No. 2 Washington all it can handle in its few setbacks on the year. The Huskies finished the regular season seventh in the IRA/USRowing Collegiate Poll.
Last year at the IRAs
At last year's championship, Northeastern concluded its season with a sixth place finish in the nation in team points. The 1V set the tone with a victory in the Petite Final to place seventh in the country while the Huskies' second varsity took fifth in the Grand Final, and the third varsity finished sixth as all eights boats finished at or above their seeds entering the weekend.
Heats and Lane Assignments
| First Varsity - Heat 2 |
Second Varsity - Heat 1 |
Third Varsity - Heat 1 |
Varsity Four - Heat 3 |
| 1 - Washington |
1 - Washington |
1 - Washington |
1 - Northeastern |
| 2 - Northeastern |
2 - Northeastern |
2 - Dartmouth |
2 - Cornell |
| 3 - Cornell |
3 - Boston University |
3 - Northeastern |
3 - Stetson |
| 4 - Columbia |
4 - Wisconsin |
4 - Stanford |
4 - Jacksonville |
| 5 - Oregon State |
5 - Drexel |
5 - Hobart |
5 - Georgetown |
| 6 - UC San Diego |
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