Men's Crew Completes First Day Of IRAs
May 31, 2007 | Men's Rowing
Full Results | Audio Slideshow
CHERRY HILL, N.J. - Boston University men's crew completed the opening rounds of the 105th annual Intercollegiate Rowing Association (IRA) Championships on Thursday at the Camden River Park on the Cooper River. The undefeated freshman fours advanced directly to the semifinals with a win in its morning heat.
The varsity eights went off first in the morning. The Terriers finished fifth in their heat, crossing the line in 5:58.83. BU competed in the second repechage, in the last race of the day, and placed third in 5:51.46. The Terrier varsity has qualified for semifinal three at 12:24 p.m. on Friday, June 1.
The ninth-seeded freshman eight rowed in the second heat on Thursday morning and completed the 2000m course in 6:02.24 falling just short of advancing directly to the semifinals. In the reps, BU also placed third, behind Georgetown and Columbia, in 6:03.42.The Terriers will row in the third semifinal at 11:36 a.m. on Friday.
The freshman four-plus won a hard fight with the U.S. Naval Academy in its morning heat. Off the start, BU was rowing at a 45 and had a half-length lead on Navy and UCLA in the first 250m. The Terriers held a one-seat lead at the 500m mark but the Midshipmen mounted an attack. Navy took a one-half length advantage in the middle 1000m, while BU maintained an open water lead on UCLA. The third 500m featured a see-saw battle, and the Terriers out-sprinted Navy to win the heat in 6:37.65 to move right into Friday's second semifinal at 9 a.m.
The open four finished sixth in its morning heat, crossing the line in 7:15.84. BU will row in the first rep at 8 a.m. on Friday morning. The straight four had a tumultuous start to its morning heat. Colgate and Cornell collided after both had steering issues and caused a restart. After the restart, the two went head-to-head down the course with Colgate rowing in the upper 30s for most of the course. BU dropped to sixth at the first 500m and had trouble digging out. The Terriers will row in the first rep at 9:36 a.m. on Friday.
The varsity four-plus was run a bit differently than the rest of the races on the day. Because of the large number of entries (33), the race was held head-style with each crew racing the clock. The first 12 times were to move onto the "A" and "B" finals with the opportunity to reach the Petite and Grand Finals. The Terriers clocked in at 5:36.76 to finish 11th and will row in either the first or second semifinals on Friday at 1:48 p.m. or 2 p.m.
DAY ONE RESULTS
Varsity Eight Heat 4
Harvard 5:36.36; Stanford 5:36.58; Michigan 5:48.28; Penn 5:54.25; BU 5:58.83; Columbia 6:05.99
Freshman Eight Heat 2
California 5:49.63; Orange Coast 5:53.58; BU 6:02.24; George Washington 6:02.85; Holy Cross 6:05.82; Hobart 6:37.54
Freshman Fours Heat 4
BU 6:37.65; Navy 6:38.88; UCLA 6:55.88; Dartmouth 7:07.15; Fordham 7:14.17; Ohio State (scratch)
Open Fours Heat 2
Cornell 6:38.56; Syracuse 6:42.17; Wisconsin B 6:43.33; Yale 6:56.26; Navy 7:04.26; BU 7:15.84
Varsity Fours w/o Heat 2
Colgate 6:22.76; Cornell 6:26.17; Yale 6:32.82; Gonzaga 6:33.80; MIT 6:33.84; BU 6:37.77
Varsity Fours (time trial)
BU finished 11th (out of 33 crews) in 5:36.76
