Men's Crew Readies For IRA Championships
May 30, 2007 | Men's Rowing
CHERRY HILL, N.J. - Boston University men's crew makes its annual trip to the 105th Intercollegiate Rowing Association (IRA) Championships held on the Cooper River from May 31 to June 2. The Terriers will take on the best rowing programs the nation has to offer for the 17th consecutive year under head coach Rodney Pratt.
The varsity eight, composed of bow Lukasz Turolski; Brandon Batey; Meindert Klem; Josh Novak; Eric Millard; Cody Gantz; Jozef Klaasen; stroke Jens Robatzek and cox Andrea Rosmann, will row in lane six of the fourth heat on Thursday morning at 8:12. The Terriers, unseeded going into the championships, will face Columbia, Stanford, Harvard, Michigan and Pennsylvania. Two crews from each heat will advance to the semifinals. The remaining crews will go to Thursday afternoon's repechages.
The freshman eight is seeded ninth for the second consecutive year. The boat will row at 8:36 a.m. against Holy Cross, California, Orange Coast, George Washington, and Hobart in lane two of the second heat. As with the varsity, two crews will advance to the semifinals, while the rest will compete in the afternoon's reps. The novice eight is made up of bow Matt Galica, Milos Nikolic, Andy Fisher, Matt Dunn, Rich McGovern, Milos Drjlic, Nemanja Bekan, stroke Nick Anderson, and cox Tom Ivancic.
None of the fours races are seeded events. Bowman Johnny Hood, Kieran Mace, Ricardo Sinicio-Tessarotto, stroke Travis Clarke and cox Maria Escallon will race in the freshman four in lane three of the fourth heat against Fordham, UCLA, Navy, Ohio State, and Dartmouth at 10:48 a.m.
BU's open fours - bow Jonathon Czerepak, Greg Conway, Nick Couraud, stroke Jesse Wisniowski and cox Devin Maloney - will row in lane five of heat two against Yale, Navy, Syracuse and Cornell at 11:24 a.m. One crew will go on to the semis, while the rest will go to the afternoon repechages.
The varsity four without cox will row in the first lane of the second heat against Yale, Cornell, Colgate, MIT and Gonzaga at noon. The Terriers - bow Graham Leitch, Steven Pytlar, Matt Seminerio, and stroke Andre Guzman - will aim to be the one crew that advances directly to the final.
Finally, the varsity four-plus race will be conducted differently than the other four events. This race will be a time trial beginning at 12:36 p.m., with crews finishing in places 1-12 going to the "A" and "B" semifinals and the Petite or Grand Finals. Crews finishing in places 13-24 will advance to the "A" and "B" semis and the Third or Fourth Level finals. Places 25-30 will go to the "E" Final, while places 31-36 will be sent to the "F" Final. BU's boat is composed of bow Harrison Macris, Matt Trevithick, Chris Klotzbach, stroke Justin Martin and cox Marty Yates.
In 2006, the varsity won its Third Level Final to place 13th overall. The freshman eight placed third in the Petite Final to end up ninth overall, two places ahead of its 11-seed.
