SACRAMENTO – Under sunny skies and flat conditions, the Northeastern men's rowing team kicked off racing at the 2019 IRA Championships on Friday at Lake Natoma with all three eights boats advancing to the A/B Semifinals, highlighted by top two finishes in the 1V and 3V heats.
Racing continues on Saturday morning, where the Huskies have an opportunity to advance all eights boats to the grand final of the national championship. The 1V will race at 11:36 a.m., followed by the 2V (12:12 p.m.) and 3V (12:36 p.m.) All times are Eastern.
Northeastern and Washington quickly established who the top two crews were in its first varsity heat as both Huskies took an early lead off the start for the top two advancing spots. Northeastern stuck with UW to clearly take the second position, keeping Cornell back by a length through the second 500-meters. The Huskies, operating at 36 strokes per minute through the first half of the race, kept contact with Washington through the third 500-meters to cross with a time of 5:41.539, six seconds ahead of the third place Big Red.
While Washington bolted out to an open water lead on the field in the second varsity heat, it was Northeastern, Boston University and Wisconsin battling for the second position with all three crews looking to avoid the afternoon repechage. Entering the second 500-meters, the Badgers sat in second place by a seat over the Terriers, with Northeastern lurking two seats behind BU. As the Huskies upped their stroke rate to 37 strokes per minute, NU passed Wisconsin for third place and sat a half-length behind the Terriers entering the final 500-meters, but ran out of water as Boston University took second at 5:49.926 to send Northeastern to the repechage at 5:53.453.
In the afternoon rep, the Huskies used a hot start to break into an early lead that they never relinquished. Northeastern maintained control throughout the body of the race, eventually breaking into open water away from Penn to earn a spot in the A/B Semifinal with a time of 5:57.113.
Similar to the 1V and 2V heats, Washington established control early in the third varsity, leaving the rest of the crew to fight for second place. Northeastern and Dartmouth were able to pull away from Stanford and Hobart to make it a two-boat race for second, with the Big Green up nearly a length on the Huskies in the second 500-meters. Northeastern, though, made a strong push in the middle 1000 with a stroke rate of 38 to cut the Dartmouth lead to half a length approaching the finish. The Huskies continued its push in the final 500-meters, eventually overtaking Dartmouth to win by four seconds at 5:50.936 to advance to the A/B Semifinal.
In the varsity four, all five crews got out to an even start before IRA newcomer Stetson pulled out ahead by two seats over Georgetown. It was those two crews fighting down the course while the Huskies finished fifth at 6:46.065, moving to the afternoon repechage. There, the Huskies went up against Boston University, Wisconsin and Dartmouth where Northeastern finished fourth at 6:53.40.
Heats and Lane Assignments
| First Varsity - A/B Semifinal |
Second Varsity - A/B Semifinal |
Third Varsity - A/B Semifinal |
Varsity Four - C/D Semifinal |
| 1 - Yale |
1 - Harvard |
1 - Yale |
|
| 2 - California |
2 - Brown |
2 - Harvard |
|
| 3 - Brown |
3 - Boston University |
3 - Northeastern |
|
| 4 - Northeastern |
4 - Yale |
4 - Brown |
|
| 5 - Stanford |
5 - Northeastern |
5 - Syracuse |
|
| 6 - Cornell |
6 - Navy |
6 - Wisconsin |
|
|
Second Varsity - Repechage |
|
Varsity Four - Repechage |
|
Northeastern - 5:57.113 |
|
Boston University - 6:37.44 |
|
Pennsylvania - 6:04.166 |
|
Dartmouth - 6:41.12 |
|
Stanford - 6:04.876 |
|
Wisconsin - 6:44.39 |
|
Santa Clara - 6:20.178 |
|
Northeastern - 6:53.40 |
| First Varsity - Heat |
Second Varsity - Heat |
Third Varsity - Heat |
Varsity Four - Heat |
| 1. Washington - 5:35.003 |
1. Washington - 5:47.446 |
1. Washington - 5:47.318 |
1. Stetson - 6:32.058 |
| 2. Northeastern - 5:41.539 |
2. Boston University - 5:49.926 |
2. Northeastern - 5:50.936 |
2. Georgetown - 6:36.093 |
| 3. Cornell - 5:47.459 |
3. Northeastern - 5:53.453 |
3. Dartmouth - 5:54.238 |
3. Cornell - 6:39.402 |
| 4. Columbia - 5:49.138 |
4. Wisconsin - 6:00.114 |
4. Hobart - 6:12.376 |
4. Jacksonville - 6:40.102 |
| 5. Oregon State - 5:51.788 |
5. Drexel - 6:18.554 |
5. Stanford - 6:17.891 |
5. Northeastern - 6:46.065 |
| 6. UC San Diego - 6:03.823 |
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