UW Wins Silver In V4+, Advances To IRA Finals In All Eights

WEST WINDSOR, N.J. – The Washington men's rowing team earned a silver medal in the varsity four and saw all three of its eights qualify for national championship finals, thanks to second-place finishes in the semifinals, Saturday at the 2022 IRA National Championship Regatta at Mercer Lake.
 
Sunday, Washington will row for gold medals in the first, second and third varsity eights, one of four programs that qualified in all three race categories. In men's college rowing, the winner of the IRA varsity eight grand final is considered the "national champion." In 2021, Washington won all three 
 
Washington's final race of the day Saturday was the grand final in the men's varsity four. From the start, Princeton, which posted the fastest time in the semifinals, jumped out to the lead, with Washington in second position, just ahead of Georgetown. 
 
By 500 meters, the Tigers had opened a full-length lead over the Huskies while the Hoyas continued to challenge the UW four. After 1,000 meters, the UW crew regained contact with the Tigers and pushed them the rest of the way. 
 
At the end, the UW four ran out of race course and couldn't quite catch the crew from just up the road. Princeton finished a deck-length ahead of the Huskies with a time of 6:20.011. Washington was less than eight-tenths of a second back, at 6:20.897, which was just over a second faster than Georgetown (6:21.977).
 
The day began for the Huskies with the first varsity eight semifinal. Top-ranked California took the lead from the start, gaining nearly a length on the rest of the field by 500 meters. Four of the five remaining crews remained closely packed early on, before the Huskies and Harvard pulled away.
 
With the top three finishers qualifying for the grand final, by 1,000 meters, the Huskies had moved into second place, stretching their lead over the Crimson, while keeping up with the Golden Bears.
 
Cal won the race in 5:33.311, beating the UW by eight seats at the finish. Washington's time was 5:35.977, while Harvard finished third, in 5:40.365. 
 
In the second V8+ semifinal, Yale, Syracuse and Brown finished first through third to round out the field for the grand final.
 
 
In the Huskies' second varsity eight semifinal, Yale passed the 500-meter buoy just ahead of UW, with Dartmouth a close third, all three of those crews separated by less than one second at that point.
 
By 1,000 meters, it had turned into a race between the Elis and Huskies, with Dartmouth dropping back, but as the crews headed towards the finish line, those three had established themselves in the top three spots, clearly ahead of the rest of the field.
 
Yale won the 2V8+ semifinal with a time of 5:42.253, a length ahead of Washington (5:46.529), with Dartmouth (5:49.043) another length back in third.
 
Cal, Brown and Princeton took the topnthree spots in the other second varsity eight semifinal.
 
Minutes later, the UW's third varsity eight raced for a spot in its grand final. That Husky crew took the early lead over Yale and Cal and crossed the 500-meter mark in first place. In the second 500, Yale moved to the front, and those three shells established themselves as the probable qualifiers, ahead of Princeton, Navy and Penn in the final three spots.
 
Yale finished first in the 3V8+ semifinal, in 5:46.462, with the Huskies crossing the line in 5:49.300. Cal finished half a length ahead of Princeton to earn the final spot in the final.
 
In the other 3V8+ semi, Harvard, Brown and Dartmouth earned the three berths in Sunday's championship final.
 
Here is Sunday's schedule for the Huskies: 
 
6:30 a.m. PT – Third Varsity Eight Grand Final
Lanes 2-7: California, Brown, Yale, Harvard, Washington, Dartmouth.
 
7:00 a.m. PT – Second Varsity Eight Grand Final
Lanes 2-7: Dartmouth, Brown, Yale, California, Washington, Princeton
 
7:50 a.m. PT –Varsity Eight Grand Final
Lanes 2-7: Brown, Washington, Yale, California, Syracuse, Harvard
 
Sunday Live Video Link
 
Washington Lineups
 
Varsity Eight
Cox: Zach Casler (Newport Beach, Calif./Newport Harbor)
Stroke: Steve Rosts (Jordan, Ont., Canada)
7: Mattijs Holler (Vienna, Austriart-Jan van Doorn (Leiden, The Netherlands)
5: Simon van Dorp  (Amsterdam, Netherlands)
4: Jack Walkey (Victoria, B.C., Canada)
3: Logan Ullrich (Auckland, New Zealand)
2: Blake Bradshaw (Auckland, New Zealand)
Bow: Darcy McCluskey (Brisbane, Australia)
 
Second Varsity Eight
Cox: Adam Gold (Seattle, Wash./Seattle Academy)
Stroke: Robert Pluijmert (Dieren, The Netherlands)
7: Sebastian Ritter (Regensburg, Germany)
6: Adam Krol (Toronto, Ont., Canada)
5: Pablo Matan (San Jose, Calif./Bellarmine Prep)
4: Nils Vorberg (Hamburg, Germany)
3: Max Heid (Seattle, Wash./Seattle Prep)
2: Max Mason (Redmond, Wash./Redmond)
Bow: Giulio Acernese (Rome, Italy)
 
Third Varsity Eight
Cox: Max Schwartzkopff (Frankfurt am Main, Germany)
Stroke: Gus Altucher (Portland, Ore./Cleveland)
7: Ethan Blight (Auckland, New Zealand)
6: Chase Barrows (Snohomish, Wash./Archbishop Murphy)
5: Jack Premzic (Davis, Calif./Davis Senior)
4: Marius Ahlsand (Oslo, Norway)
3: Harry Fitzpatrick (Auckland, New Zealand)
2: Quinn Hall (Chester Springs, Pa./Malvern Prep)
Bow: Colin Kwiecinski (Cincinnati, Ohio/St. Xavier)
 
Varsity Four
Stroke: Blake Vogel (Pittsburgh, Pa./Central Catholic)
3: Abe Eligator (Larchmont, N.Y./Mamaroneck)
2: Parker Raines (Sammamish, Wash./Skyline)
Bow: Luke Henry (Bellevue, Wash./Singapore American) 
Cox: Thomas Wenk (Cincinnati, Ohio/St. Xavier)
 
Spares
Archie Drummond (Twickenham, London, U.K.)
Michael Thiers (Seattle, Wash./Roosevelt)