The Washington men’s rowing team won all three of its eights heats and advanced to the grand final in the varsity four on May 29, during the first day of competition at the IRA National Championship Regatta held at Lake Natoma in Gold River, California.
On the opening day, Washington finished first in its three heavyweight eights events—the first, second, and third varsity eights—and also secured a spot in Saturday’s varsity four grand final after placing fifth out of 29 teams in the time trial and winning their semifinal. The finals for the varsity four are scheduled for Saturday, while all eights finals will take place on Sunday.
The Huskies’ eight-oared crews will compete in A/B semifinals on Saturday. To advance to Sunday’s grand finals, each crew must finish among the top three in their respective semifinals. In Friday’s heats, Washington’s varsity eight maintained an unchanged lineup from its recent MPSF Championship win and took an early lead before finishing with a time of 5:41.11. Penn finished second by just 1.6 seconds.
Washington’s second varsity eight also led from start to finish with a time of 5:47.29 ahead of Dartmouth and Stanford. The third varsity eight followed suit with a strong start and posted a winning time of 5:51.17 against competitors Dartmouth and Stanford.
In the fours event, Washington placed fifth overall during time trials before moving into their semifinal where they raced alongside Marist at the front throughout most of the contest. Despite challenges—including Marist navigating through geese near the finish—both crews advanced safely to Saturday’s grand final along with Cal, Princeton, Penn, and Harvard.
Saturday’s schedule includes A/B semifinals for each eights boat beginning at 8:48 a.m., as well as participation in the varsity four grand final later that morning.
