IRA Championships: Day 1

WEST WINDSOR, N.J. – Three Oregon State men's crews raced at the Intercollegiate Rowing (IRA) Championships on the first day of the national championship regatta Friday on the waters of Mercer Lake in New Jersey.

“Collectively all three boats did not perform up to what their training had indicated,” interim head coach Gabe Winkler said. “Across the board, the varsity, JV and 3V were way off of their projected paces.

“However, we do live another day. We have a tough semifinal to get through tomorrow and we can still beat our seeding. We didn't travel across the country to row poorly. We'll re-group tomorrow for the semis.”

Oregon State's Varsity 8 crew didn't fare quite as well as expected on the first day of racing at IRAs. In the opening V8 heat of the day, OSU rowed to a fifth place finish. Facing No. 1 Washington, No. 8 Boston University, No. 9 Navy and No. 17 Florida Institute of Technology, OSU fell off the pace and crossed the finish with a time of 6-minutes, 17.491-seconds ahead of Santa Clara.

The Beavers' top crew, ranked No. 16 in the nation entering the weekend, raced in the afternoon in the third repechage cutting more than 16 seconds off its morning row posting a time of 6:01.083. However, it wasn't enough to overcome No. 11 Pennsylvania, No. 15 Wisconsin and Hobart College.

In the Second Varsity 8, OSU turned in a time of 6:25.887 to finish fifth in the second heat behind California, Yale, Wisconsin and Drexel.

In the repechage four, the Beavers shaved 19 seconds off their early effort earning a third-place finish behind Dartmouth and Columbia with a time of 6:06.714.

OSU's Third Varsity 8 posted the Beavers' best results of the day finishing fourth in each of its races. The 3V8 came in fourth in the second heat of the morning as California, Harvard and Boston University filled the top three spots in a close race with only a two second difference between first and third. The Beavers pulled in fourth ahead of Drexel with a time of 6:31.707.

Later, in the first repechage the Orange and Black crew earned another fourth place finish, six seconds behind third place Syracuse but nearly seven seconds ahead of Holy Cross and Hobart.

The Beavers race again on Saturday in semifinal races with an eye toward seedings for the final races on Sunday. The day begins for the Beavers with the

IRA CHAMPIONSHIPS RESULTS
Varsity 8- Heat 1
1. Washington 5:52.520
2. Boston U. 5:55.246
3. Navy 5:58.894
4. FIT 5:59.537
5. Oregon State 6:17.491
6. Santa Clara 6:20.283

Varsity 8- Repechage 3
1. Pennsylvania 5:48.852
2. Wisconsin 5:51.023
3. Hobart 5:53.485
4. Oregon State 6:01.083

Second Varsity 8 – Heat 2
1. California 5:56.820
2. Yale 5:59.617
3. Wisconsin 6:06.819
4. Drexel 6:09.634
5. Oregon State 6:25.887

Second Varsity 8 – Repechage 4
1. Dartmouth 5:59.316
2. Columbia 6:01.521
3. Oregon State 6:06.714

Third Varsity 8 – Heat 2
1. California 6:04.364
2. Harvard 6:05.601
3. Boston U. 6:06.364
4. Oregon State 6:31.707
5. Drexel 6:34.705

Third Varsity 8 – Repechage 1
1. Yale 6:01.119
2. Dartmouth 6:06.530
3. Syracuse 6:11.255
4. Oregon State 6:17.389
5. Holy Cross 6:24.188
6. Hobart 6:32.724

IRA CHAMPIONSHIPS LINEUPS:
Varsity 8
Cox – Eric Sumner
8 – Bobby Vernazza
7 – Josh West
6 – Henry Prosser
5 – Aidan Daly-Jensen
4 – Jesse Maritz
3 – Kyle Wilkins
2 – Spencer Smith
1 – Martin Forde

Second Varsity 8
Cox – Ben Augeri
8 – Baxter Call
7 – Nathan Smith
6 – Tyler MacDonald
5 – Collin Griffitts
4 – Taylor Heen
3 – Neall Koetje
2– Clark Fisher
1 – Grant Van Kampen

Third Varsity 8
Cox – Heather Thompson
8 – Alec Martin
7 – Sasha Kosek
6 – Austin Erickson
5 – Jordan Zielinski
4 – Max Cantrell
3 – Michael Jagielski
2 – Rafael Gorriarán
1 – Callum Davies