Whilst not as important as the crown jewel varsity, the 2V and 3V provide important Ten Eyck team points which reward programs for their depth and success in the lower boats is a crucial recruiting pull. Last year Cal pulled off an extremely impressive sweep, and it will be interesting to see if any crews can pull off a similar level of dominance this year. It is also worth noting that the lower a boats ranking, the more likely or frequent it is to have its line-up changed and as such these boats see greater changes in speed week to week. With that having been said, most coaches will not intend to make great changes in the last weeks of the season unless there are drastic issues.
Second Varsity Eights
University of Washington
UW won narrowly over Cal by three seconds at the Pac-12s, who will be hoping to compete for a medal in this category, and in so doing marked themselves as the fastest crew in the west. Of course, this leaves the question: are they able to face the east? The Sunshine State Invitational at the beginning of the season may have an answer, as the Huskies were able to overcome Brown University by six seconds to claim the gold medal. While it’s hard to gauge the difference from the beginning to the present stage in the season, I cannot imagine UW will have slowed down and thus remain the formidable forerunners in this event.
Princeton University
Princeton won Eastern Sprints commandingly, continuing their undefeated streak this season and they will be hoping to complete a perfect season with a national championship. Perhaps Princeton will make some changes between their 1V and 2V after their upset loss in the former, and this could cause the crew to bleed speed before the regatta. However, after beating Harvard by three seconds at Eastern Sprints to take gold, will this length lead provide them the confidence they need to take on their Washington competitors?
Harvard University
Finishing second at Eastern Sprints, the Crimson will be hoping to clinch a podium spot at IRAs. They have seen a strong field of results so far this season, beating Penn by over eight seconds, Northeastern by five seconds and the US Naval Academy by 16 seconds, Harvard have divided the field and will hope to find last minute speed on the Charles before traveling to Lake Mercer this week.
Dartmouth University
Followed merely a second behind Harvard to snatch third at Sprints Dartmouth will also be vying for medals on the big stage. They are always disadvantaged by their quarter system coming into IRAs, as it falls squarely in their finals season and so how they navigate that challenge will have an impact on the final standings.
Third Varsity Eights
University of Washington
UW, who bested Cal by just over ten seconds at Pac 12s, have been fearsome all year, and it will be some task for any crew to overhaul them. Un-phased by athletes away on international duty, the Huskies have been able to shine, besting the likes of Oregon State (who are seeing a resurgence in both women’s and men’s categories this season) and Stanford. They were also triumphant at the Sunshine State Invitational, which gave us an early taste of trans-coastal matchups we only see at IRAs, winning by two seconds and beating all times from the 2V final bar the UW 2V in the process. I imagine this will be a tough crew to beat.
Princeton University
The crew with the best seeming chance is Princeton, who won a fast 3V final at sprints. This was in addition to duel victories against Brown, Cornell, Penn and Northeastern (to name a few) which will give them confidence as they have dominated against east-coast rivals.
Harvard University
Harvard again will be hoping to compete for a podium position. Last year, they pushed Cal all the way down the course and only narrowly lost to a very talented freshman eight. This crew has had a string of impressive results this season, notably placing second at Eastern Sprints to the Princeton Tigers (who they were able to champion in an earlier duel). They will be looking to get one back this year, with some athletes like Simon Nunayon, a U23 gold medalist common to both crews.
The IRAs this year look more and more like it is shaking up to be a fight between UW, Cal and Princeton for the Ten Eyck trophy, with the Brown Varsity looking ready to get in the mix for the main event following a surprise storm at Eastern Sprints. After last year’s west-coast dominance, with Cal and UW placing first and second in the first two eights and overall, it will be interesting to see how well Princeton, who face the Ivy winter restrictions and who, being a smaller university do not have as many roster spots, can match up to these two behemoth programs.
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