The Intercollegiate Rowing Association (IRA) governs intercollegiate rowing between varsity men’s heavyweight, men’s lightweight, and women’s lightweight rowing programs across the United States, while the NCAA fulfils this role for women’s open weight rowing. At this year’s IRA Championship Regatta a time trial will be added before the heats because of the difficulty of seeding during the pandemic. No spectators will be allowed for the 2021 regatta. The IRA will be providing wall to wall Internet coverage of the time trials Friday morning, semi-finals Friday afternoon, and finals on Saturday morning.
What’s worth noting is that this year’s IRAs will look very different. The biggest absentees are of course Harvard and Yale. Two out of the three medalists will be missing and the three-time defending champions will see their goldrush come to an end. That being said, many of the heavy hitters will be squaring off on Mercer Lake in West Windsor, New Jersey. Coming into the event, the Intercollegiate Rowing Coaches Association ranked the top twenty Varsity Eights. Rankings will be noted next to the respective crews.
So brace yourselves…a bumper preview incoming…there’s insights into all 31 of the Varsity Eights.
Bates College Bobcats – Head Coach: Peter Steestra
Bates is a Division III school that compete in the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC). To put that into perspective, your Washingtons and your Yales race Division I. According to the NCAA, there are 351 Division I schools, 308 Division II schools, and 443 Division III schools. Recently, the Bates men’s rowing team came up short of winning a fourth straight conference title, as Williams College took first place at the four-team NESCAC Men’s Rowing Championship held on the Malden River.
Boston University Terriers – Head Coach: Thomas Bohrer Ranked 7
Like all racing, Men’s Division I racing has been heavily impacted by COVID-19. As such, the annual duelling and meets took a different look. The traditional cups were not raced for due to depleted rosters but that didn’t stop the Terriers getting some results under their belts. They kicked off with a loss to local rivals, Northeastern. Northeastern was able to get out to a fast start and built an early lead on BU, stretching out to a full length at the 1000m mark. The Terriers Varsity Eight cut into the Northeastern lead during the second half of the race but Northeastern answered and stretched the lead to open water and won with a time of 6:02.40, ahead of BU’s time of (6:07.80). A come from behind win versus Navy was a good bounce back for Boston, but after defeats to Syracuse and once again to arch rivals, Northeastern, the Terriers will come to the IRAs licking wounds.
Brown University Bears – Head Coach: Paul Cooke Ranked 8
Brown University men’s crew swept past host Holy Cross and Trinity College in the first, second, and third Varsity Eight as the Bears returned to competition. As one of the powerhouses of Division 1 Rowing, Brown will have work to do to get into this year’s Grand Final. Brown haven’t had much on the water competition and their most recent loss to Northeastern by just under six seconds will show them exactly what needs done if they are to prove they are better than their current 8 seed.
Colgate University Raiders – Head Coach: Khaled Sanad
Colgate opened their season with a loss to Holy Cross. However, Colgate posted an impressive pair of winst rival Marietta at the West Side Rowing Club. The Raiders covered the 2,000-meter course in the Varsity 8+ in 6:45.3 beating their cohorts from Marietta. Later in the season Colgate had some private racing with rivals, Marist as they prepared for Dad Vail Regatta. This positive experience for the Raiders paid off at Dad Vail. The men’s pair and men’s junior varsity 4+ won gold medals. The Colgate men’s varsity 8+, which won the Richard O’Brien Trophy two years ago in record time, appeared headed toward another medal performance after placing first in its semi final heat. But the Raider chances for a repeat in the final were marred when a rival boat’s troubles the next lane over threw the Colgate boat off its stride. The Raiders crossed in sixth place.
College of the Holy Cross Crusaders – Head Coach: Jim Barr Ranked 19
British readers may well recall Daniel Beckham who raced for the Crusaders at the British Rowing Virtual Championships last summer. His alma mater has lined up against the likes of George Washington and Princeton, losing both contests. The Crusaders have faced which an incredibly tough schedule this season, including four opponents which are currently ranked: Princeton, Brown, Temple and 2 George Washington.
Cornell University Big Red – Head Coach: Todd Kennett Ranked 15
Cornell are famed for their Lightweight programme. In fact, you have to go back to 1982 for the last time that Cornell won the heavyweight Varsity Eighty. Big Red have had very little racing this year. The Cornell men’s heavyweight rowing programme defeated Hobart and Marist in each of its three races back on May 8th, going undefeated in its return to the water. It was the first time the heavies have competed since the fall of 2019 and marked Cornell’s return to varsity athletics action. This is a crew that will benefit from the time trial format. An unknown quantity some might say.
Dartmouth College Big Green – Head Coach: Wyatt Allen Ranked 10
The Big Green heavyweight lads came in at No. 10 in the IRCA poll with 127 points. Brown and Princeton were the only higher ranked Ivy institutions at eighth and fourth, respectively. Dartmouth have only raced once this season. The Big Green men’s heavyweight team took to the Connecticut river against the Ephs from Williams College. The host Big Green were not very hospitable, winning all three races.
Drexel University Dragons – Head Coach: Paul Savell Ranked 14
Drexel have done well to get some good racing in before the IRAs. They suffered an early season loss to Navy, but recovered well and later on put up a dominant performance on the Schuylkill River, moving past both Gonzaga and Marietta in five total races. A week later at the 54th annual Kerr Cup Regatta, the Dragons Varsity Eight came up just short to Temple and Penn. Drexel finished third overall. In the final preparations for the IRA, the Dragons took two losses at Varsity Eight level to both George Washington and Princeton.
George Washington University Colonials – Head Coach Eric Gehrke Ranked 13
With the 13th seed, George Washington will need a big performance in the time trial to give themselves a favourable semi final draw. The Colonials are another team putting a tally in the W column against Holy Cross, but they’re another team who can be added to the list of programmes who have suffered at the hands of Navy. There most notable result was a thrashing by Syracuse, now ranked 3 in the country so they have a mountain to climb if they are going to excel this year.
Gonzaga University Bulldogs – Head Coach: Dan Gehn
Gonzaga are a famous sporting university. However, they are famed for Basketball, not rowing. As an unranked crew coming to Mercer Lake, the Zags can only cause upsets. At the Western Sprints at the Chula Vista Elite Athletic Training Center, Gonzaga’s Varsity Eight finished in 6:00.36, less than five seconds behind the unranked winners, University California San Diego. Earlier in the season they had a similar result against UCSD and fell behind University of San Diego too.
Hobart College Statesmen – Head Coach: Paul Bugenhagen Ranked 18
The Hobart College rowing team won the Liberty League Men’s Rowing Championship for the 15th consecutive season. The Statesmen took home gold medals in the first and second Varsity Eights on its way to capturing the conference championship. Some may remember Hobart’s most recent HRR appearance from 2015 where they made it to the second round of the Temple, falling to fellow Yankees, Columbia. Back in the present time, fell to Cornell on Big Red’s home water. A regatta of opportunity awaits the Statesmen.
Jacksonville University Dolphins – Head Coach: Jason Cottingham
One of the benefits of this previews is that even I get to learn about programmes I’ve not heard about before. Jacksonville are another Florida team that use the Dolphin name. Jacksonville another team who raced at Dad Vail. They placed 5th in the B Final behind the likes of Marietta and Georgetown. As mentioned, crews like Temple, George Washington and Drexel all made the A Final.
Marietta College Pioneers – Head Coach: Greg Myhr
Without sounding like a stuck record, but Dad Vail is providing a fascinating insight as to how crews ranked 12 through unranked are shaping up. Marietta will be hard pressed to challenge the likes of Drexel and Temple who appeared to simply outclass the Pioneers. Don’t expect to see Marietta in the top three finals.
Marist College Red Foxes – Head Coach: Campbell Woods
The Red Foxes faced Colgate in their first competition since closing out the fall season in 2019. Three crews represented Marist College in a series of practice races, with four 1000-meter pieces and three 500m pieces. Marist came into the scrimmage having just been cleared to resume training activity on April 23rd following the school’s precautionary campus pause. The Varsity Eight raced directly with the Colgate Varsity. The Raiders crew took wins by two to three seats in the first and second pieces. The Red Foxes were victorious in the third segment before Colgate took the fourth. Both crews then faced off in some shorter 500m sprints, which Colgate won by two to three seats. Marist will be one of the universities simply happy to get some more racing at the IRAs. Whilst they’re not one of the big hitters, perhaps the Colgate showdown was an unfair reflection due to their lack of prep.
Northeastern University Huskies – Head Coach: Justin Jones Ranked 5
The first of this year’s ‘big six’, the top six crews according to the IRCA. Northeastern are a dominant force in collegiate rowing and yet they haven’t won a national championship since 1991. With the absence of Yale and Harvard, 2021 presents the perfect opportunity to climb back onto the medal podium. The Huskies have strung together some fantastic results. Twice smacking down their bitter rivals, BU, and sweeping Brown to win the Dreissigacker Cup for the first time since 2017. It was only two years ago when Northeastern advanced to the Temple final losing to Brookes by just 3/4 of a length. I firmly believe Northeastern can do better than the 5 seed the IRCA have given them.
Oregon State Beavers – Head Coach: Ranked 16
The Beavers head to mercer Lake with a third place finish at the PAC-12s and the number six seed. Their fourth place in the Varsity Eight is commendable but with 15 seconds separating themselves and third place Stanford, the Beavers are very much on the outside looking in of the Petite Final. It is neigh on impossible to predict how fast east coast teams are compared to their west coast counterparts. Usually, the only indication would be the Head of The Charles. However, without that, I reckon we can expect a great tussle between Oregon State and the Dad Vail A final crews.
Princeton University Tigers – Head Coach: Greg Hughes Ranked 4
With the absence of the Eastern Sprints, Princeton is another school with little racing experience. upon their return to the water, they took down two Philadelphia schools in St. Joe’s and Drexel on the Schuylkill River. The Varsity Eight put 22 seconds into 14 seed, Drexel. A few weeks later, the Tigers put nearly ten seconds into Navy and nearly twelve seconds into Holy Cross. Princeton continue to mould fantastic British oarsmen and women. You only have to look at Tom George and Dave Bewicke-Copely. 1998 was the last time Princeton took top honours and while it’s unlikely they’ll stike gold this wekeend, a medal is very much on the cards.
Santa Clara University Broncos – Head Coach: Jay Farwell
The Broncos are another Division I school. Most recently, they have raced at the Western Sprints against the likes of UCSD who beat the Broncos’ Varsity Eight by just two seconds. The Varsity Eight also saw earlier triumphs over Gonzaga and Washington State. To give some perspective to Santa Clara, they have also raced Cal and Stanford. Against Cal, the Broncos finished the Varsity Eight race in 6:09.45 with the Cal coming in at 5:44.30. That afternoon the Broncos raced Stanford finishing in a time of 6:42.90, behind the Cardinal’s 6:19.40. The next day Santa Clara raced Oregon State. The Beavers V8 coming in at 5:55.74, ahead of the Broncos 6:08.37.
St. Joseph’s University Hawks – Head Coach: Mike Irwin
For four weeks, St Joseph’s were ranked in the top twenty of the IRCA poll and for two of them, they peaked at the 19th seed. It gives the Hawks the confidence that that they are more than capable of making one of the top four finals, perhaps even breaking into the top 18 crews at this year’s IRAs. At Dad Vail, the Hawks were just four seconds behind Drexel which suggest the gap between the 14 seen and some of the unranked crews really isn’t that big.
Stanford University Cardinals – Head Coach: Ted Sobolewski Ranked 9
While Stanford may not enjoy a win this weekend, there will be plenty of celebration across the entire team. Stanford was one of the universities faced with making tough funding decisions in the aftermath of COVID-19 and Rowing was one of the sports that was going to take the brunt of that. However, bolstered by an improved financial picture with increased fundraising potential, Stanford will continue 11 varsity sports that had been slated for discontinuation at the end of this academic year. Men’s Varsity Rowing will continue. Third place at the PAC-12s was encouraging particularly as they reduced the gap between themselves and Washington to eight seconds, down from 24 earlier in the season. Just four seconds separated the Cardinals and Cal, the number 2 seed at Gold River for the PAC-12s. They’re certainly a team with a great progression curve this season, the question is whether they can maintain right the way through the IRAs.
Stetson University Hatters – Head Coach: Katie Thurstin
Yes, this is a real university. They can be found racing with the rest of the Dad Vail Regatta contingent and ultimately, they placed 5th, edging Colgate into sixth place as the young crew mounted an impressive charge for the line. 15 seconds separated the Hatters and Drexel but they find themselves in that void of unranked crews with plenty to race for.
Syracuse University Orange – Head Coach: Dave Reischman Ranked 3
The Orange are the highest-ranked east coast team in the latest IRCA Poll behind No. 1 Washington and No. 2 California. Syracuse’s varsity eight has earned head-to-head wins over Northeastern, Wisconsin, Boston University, Navy and George Washington this season. That’s something to write home about. With Harvard and Yale absent, Syracuse will be flying the flag for the east coast as they face the formidable Washington and Cal for the first time this season. In 2019. Syracuse were third in the Petite Final and their last taste of gold was 1978.
Temple University Owls – Head Coach: Brian Perkins Ranked 12
Out of all 31 entries, Temple have probably had the greatest amount of racing experience during this unprecedented season. Temple have dominated fellow Philadelphia based university, Drexel at every opportunity. The Owls made the most of a long trip to the west coast for races against San Diego and UC San Diego on Mission Bay as both the varsity eight and the second varsity eight boats grabbed gold medals. This season also saw Temple sweep Marist and Holy Cross. The Owls peaked at number eight on the IRCA poll so there is certainly scope for them to do some damage in the Petite Final.
Trinity College Bantams – Head Coach: Kevin MacDermott
Trinity are another Division III outfit. There most recent outing at the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) Men’s Rowing Championship n on Malden River saw them place second to the 20th ranked Williams College in the Grand Final by around 12 seconds. Early season results showed promise as they edged out Holy Cross whilst in a three way duel with Brown. As such, if the rankings continued you would likely have Trinity somewhere around the 25th seed, on the outside looking in of making one of the top four finals.
U.S Naval Academy Midshipmen – Head Coach: Rob Friedrich Ranked 11
As with their women in the NCAA, preview most will be familiar with Navy from their appearance in the King’s Cup at Henley Royal Regatta in 2019. Navy have a strong outfit this year and are thoroughly deserved of their 11 seed. Their only notable loss came to Princeton. The Tigers edged out the men from the Naval Academy by just under 10 seconds, lot long after the Midshipmen beat George Washington. Up until that loss to Princeton, Navy had been ranked has high as 7th by the IRCA. Therefore, we should be expecting Navy to feature in the top end of the Petite Final this weekend.
University of California San Diego Tritons – Head Coach: Geoff Bond
If you’ve been paying attention you’ll know that the Tritons took top spot at the Western Sprints, beating UC San Diego, Santa Clara, Gonzaga and USD. However, at their season opener, UC San Diego’s Varsity Eight battled Cal’s Varsity Eight and Second Varsity 8 on the Oakland Estuary. Cal’s Varsity 8 posted the top time and they put another eight past the Tritons with 20 seconds separating the top eights from the respective programmes. It’s no surprise that Cal are ranked second and the Tritons are unranked.
University of California Golden Bears – Head Coach: Scott Frandsen Ranked 2
The Golden Bears. (probably) This year’s silver medalists. Cal have been bridesmaids to Washington all season long be it at their duel at the Windermere Cup or at the PAC-12 Champs. There’s only so much narrative that can be written. This is a bitter rivalry that Washington are currently winning. To topple Washington mean’s they have to win a national title, something they haven’t done since 2016 when they had the likes of Natan Wegryzcki-Symczyk and Niki VanSpring on board. Cal were four seconds back on Washington at the PAC-12s and the Huskies looked great from start to finish
University of San Diego Toreros – Head Coach: Ben Hise
“Racing didn’t go as well as we wanted it to, but with seven freshmen in the Varsity 8 and five freshmen in the JV 8, we are excited about the future of the program.” Whilst frustrated with coming bottom of the pack at Western Sprints, Ben Hise knows the future of this programme is strong. The IRAs will be a great opportunity to develop the squad for hopefully a full season of racing in the autumn.
University of Washington Huskies – Head Coach: Michael Callahan Ranked 1
The Huskies are the only team to win five national titles. This epic achievement has between 2011 and 2015 and since then Cal and Yale have stollen the honours. However, with the defending champions out of the mix for this year’s IRAs the title is all but heading to Row Town USA. The Huskies swept up at the PAC-12s and they embarrassed Cal by over 8s during the Windermere Cup. Betting against Washington would be foolish this weekend. The 2019 silver medalists look set to go one better and it will take a miracle to prevent that.
University of Wisconsin Badgers – Head Coach: Chris Clark Ranked 6
The nine-time national champion Badgers look set to sneak into another Grand Final. Their last title came in 2008. While Wisconsin edged Boston on the Charles, their confidence will have taken a knock as they lost to both Syracuse and Northeastern in separate duels. It leaves question marks over the Badgers. They have the potential to ruffle feathers in the Grand Finale but in reality are they headed to a mediocre finish in the Petite Final?
Williams College Ephs – Head Coach: Marc Mandel
Still with me? Good. Our final crew is from Massachusetts and the Varsity Eight beat all the competition and claimed the NESCAC conference title. Willians have also found themselves ranked 20th by the IRCA, a seed that many below them will be gunning for.
So there you have it. All 31 Varsity Eights set to compete at the 2021 IRA Championships Friday 28- Saturday 29 May. My Predictions can be found below:
Grand Final
1 Washington 2 Cal 3 Northeastern 4 Syracuse 5 Princeton 6 Boston
Petite Final
1 Brown 2 Wisconsin 3 Navy 4 Stanford 5 Dartmouth 6 Temple
That’s all for now. If you’re hungry for more, check out any of our other pieces from The Catch, listen to the latest podcast episode, or flick through our race previews.
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