Men's Fours Lead Terrier Crews At IRA Championship Regatta
May 31, 2003 | Men's Rowing
The men's fours without coxswain finished second to Delaware in the petite final on Saturday (May 31) to highlight the Terrier men's crew performances during the three-day competition at the 101st annual Intercollegiate Rowing Championship (IRA) Regatta on Cooper River in Camden, NJ.
In all, the Terriers had five boats entered, and the fours without advanced the farthest as the other four boats rowed in the third-level finals.
Earlier in the competition, the fours finished fourth in their first heat with a time of 6:44.35, while Harvard (6:28.45) won the matchup followed by Delaware (6:29.5), Navy (6:38.03), the Terriers, Cornell (6:51.25), and Lehigh (7:04.88).
Then, in the repechage, B.U. was second in 6:32.79, while Cornell won the race in 6:28.67. The Terriers were followed, in order, by Princeton (6:34.7), the University of Rochester (6:37.41), and Columbia (6:41.57).
That set the stage for the Terriers' advancement to the petite finals where they were second only to Delaware, 6:39.84 to 6:44.17. Princeton finished third in 6:44.71, while Columbia (6:44.87) was fourth, Navy (6:51.12) was fifth, and St. Thomas (6:53.23) was sixth.
The Terriers also had boats entered in the varsity eight, the freshman eight, the men's varsity four with coxswain, and the men's open four with coxswain.
Of this group, the freshman eight fared the best as it won the third-level final in 6:02.22, a little more than six-tenths of a second faster than Michigan (6:02.83). It marked the third time during the IRAs that the Terriers were matched against the Wolverines, and the first time the Terriers defeated Michigan. After finishing sixth in its first head of the competition, the freshman boat rowed against Michigan in the repechage. There, Michigan edged the Terriers by less than four-tenths of a second. Michigan rowed in 6:07.48 to 6:07.85, as the Wolverines finished fourth while the Terriers were fifth.
The two crews met again in the semifinals, and the margin was slightly bigger for Michigan, which won the heat in 6:00.73 to the Terriers, who finished second in 6:03.55.
Their third and final meeting came in the third-level finals, and the Terriers won this matchup, 6:02.22 to 6:02.83. Navy was third (6:05.95), St. Joe's (6:06.52) was fourth, Northeastern (6:07.52) was fifth, and Marist (6:11.09) was sixth.
In the varsity eight, the Terriers finished sixth in the third-level final. Their time of 5:56.30 trailed Dartmouth (5:50.47), Stanford (5:52.81), Yale (5:53.60), Princeton (5:54.13), and Penn (5:55.23). The men opened the competition by finishing third behind Wisconsin and Dartmouth in their first heat. Wisconsin, which went on to finish fourth in the grand finals, was timed in 5:45.7. Dartmouth, which had finished third in the Eastern Sprints earlier in May, was clocked in 5:50.6, while the Terriers were third in 5:52.5.
Then, in the repechage, the Terriers were matched against California, Cornell, Stanford, and Hobart. Cal, which went on to finish third behind Harvard and Washington in the grand finals, won the rep in 5:45.44. Cornell was second 5:49.46, followed by Stanford (5:51.47), the Terriers (5:52.34), and Hobart (6:06.0).
The Terriers' next race was a semifinal matchup against Dartmouth, Penn, Dowling, Hobart, and Virginia. The Big Green won the race in 5:45.06. while Penn was second in 5:49.68. The Terriers were third in 5:53.24, while Dowling (5:55.4), Hobart (5:59.3), and Virginia (5:59.3) followed.
The varsity eight closed out its 2002-03 racing season in the third-level final.
The men's varsity four with coxswain, which finished fifth in its first heat but came back to win its semifinal matchup, took fifth in the third-level final. In its final heat of the competition, the Terriers rowed in 6:58.25. Cornell won the race in 6:46.02. Georgetown followed in 6:50.44, while Lehigh was third in 6:50.98. Ohio State (6:53.54) was fourth, while the Terriers were fifth and MIT was sixth (7:07.79).
Finally, the men's open four finished sixth in the third-level final with a time of 7:06.72. In the race, they were matched against Washington State (6:54.92), Yale (6:56.35), Navy (6:59.39), Princeton (6:59.49), and Ohio State (7:03.80). Earlier in the competition, the Terriers finished third in their first heat, fourth in their repechage, and third in their semifinals.
