MERCER, N.J. – Treated to the best racing conditions of the weekend, the Northeastern men's rowing team capped off a successful weekend with a sixth-place finish in the Grand Final of the first varsity at the 2023 IRA Championships on Lake Mercer.
 
Northeastern, which entered the weekend seeded 10th in the 1V, earned a spot in the Grand Final thanks to a strong performance in Saturday's A/B Semifinal before finishing the year sixth in the nation.
 
As a team, the Huskies placed ninth in the Ten Eyck team standings with 186 points, up four spots from last season's 13th place finish.
 
"Improvements from last year were apparent, and it was huge to have all our boats advance to the A/B Semifinal," said interim head coach Alex Perkins. "I think it speaks to the depth of the team as a group, and I know there's a lot of energy and excitement for the future."
 
There was little separation between the crews in the opening stages of the race as the Huskies improved on their start from Saturday. Entering the second 500, Northeastern sat in sixth while maintaining contact with Syracuse as they looked to cut into the gap. As California took control of the race, Northeastern continued to battle over the final 1000-meters in an attempt to overtake Syracuse, but ran out of water to take sixth at 5:43.180.
 
"I couldn't be prouder of what those guys did this weekend," Perkins said. "Coming into this regatta with how deep the competition was, to show up and do what they did was inspiring. I was really glad to see it, and we're excited to have eight of those guys coming back next year. They've gotten a taste of the Grand Final now, and we're looking forward to some hard work over the last 12 months."
 
The second varsity eight, stroked by Gus Kynast, battled in the early stages of its Petite Final before Princeton, Syracuse and Boston University took control of the race. The Huskies maintained contact with Pennsylvania in the final 1000 looking to overtake the Quakers, but settled for sixth with a time of 5:54.740 to earn 52 points towards the Ten Eyck team standings.
 
Seeded 13th entering the championships, the third varsity came out hot in the Petite Final at 43 strokes per minute in a tight start across the board. The Huskies kept contact with the leaders through the first 750-meters before Princeton, Syracuse and Pennsylvania moved away from the field, making it a race for fourth down the stretch as the Huskies clocked in at 6:02.730 to finish sixth in the petite and 12th in the nation.  
 

First Varsity	Second Varsity	Third Varsity	Varsity Four
Grand Final	Petite Final	Petite Final
1. California - 5:31.716	1. Princeton - 5:45.110	1. Princeton - 5:51.680
2. Washington - 5:32.960	2. Boston University - 5:45.640	2. Syracuse - 5:53.930
3. Princeton - 5:34.882	3. Syracuse - 5:48.690	3. Pennsylvania - 5:56.060
4. Yale - 5:36.954	4. Cornell - 5:50.630	4. Boston University - 5:59.820
5. Syracuse - 5:38.172	5. Pennsylvania - 5:52.500	5. Navy - 6:02.170
6. Northeastern - 5:43.180	6. Northeastern - 5:54.740	6. Northeastern - 6:02.730
A/B Semifinal	A/B Semifinal	A/B Semifinal	Grand Final
1. California - 6:02.434	1. Washington - 6:15.581	1. Harvard - 6:33.312	1. California - 7:04.781
2. Washington - 6:04.640	2. Harvard - 6:18.297	2. Brown - 6:36.410	2. Temple - 7:06.789
3. Northeastern - 6:05.934	3. Dartmouth - 6:20.629	3. Dartmouth - 6:43.336	3. Dartmouth - 7:07.869
4. Harvard - 6:06.802	4. Princeton - 6:23.661	4. Syracuse - 6:52.640	4. FIT - 7:09.011
5. Dartmouth - 6:19.178	5. Northeastern - 6:34.351	5. Northeastern - 7:03.324	5. Navy - 7:11.161
6. Pennsylvania - 6:34.362	6. Boston University - 6:46.955	6. Pennsylvania - 7:11.532	6. Northeastern - 7:21.413
	Repechage	Repechage Cancelled	ABC Semifinal Cancelled
	1. Northeastern - 6:09.890
	2. Wisconsin - 6:12.438
	3. Georgetown - 6:18.852
	4. Columbia - 6:23.726
Heat	Heat	Heat	Time Trial
1. Yale - 5:34.736	1. Washington - 5:43.049	1. Harvard - 5:48.902	4. Northeastern - 6.24.414
2. Northeastern - 5:35.920	2. Yale - 5:45.655	2. Washington - 5:54.186
3. Stanford - 5:36.338	3. Northeastern - 5:54.915	3. Princeton - 5:57.642
4. Cornell - 5:50.606	4. Navy - 5:59.411	4. Northeastern - 5:59.411
5. Navy - 5:59.210	5. Oregon State - 6:26.477	5. Cornell - 6:21.278
6. Santa Clara - 6:06.116		6. Santa Clara - 6:34.230
Boatings	Boatings	Boatings	Boatings
C: Will Dempsey	C: Ted Wilson	C: Quinn Fleming	C: Lal Yatagan
S: Rhett Burns	S: Gus Kynast	S: Karim Kane	S: Charlie McLaren
7: Aidan Murphy	7: Paul Phillips	7: Immanuel Dorneich	3: Alexander Picard
6: James Cartwright	6: Pietro Brocca	6: Daniel Kelly	2: Elrond Kullman
5: Cole Brann	5: Nick Fisher	5: Joseph Dirusso	B: Collin Rydecki
4: Alexander Abuhoff	4: Max Cossill	4: Felix Braband
3: Braden Porterfield	3: J.C. Sanzone	3: Quinten Cohen
2: Jakub Kyncl	2: Michael Gelfand	2: Jack Waiss
B: Victor El Kholti	B: Steven Sparks	B: Ben Tallant	.