Men's Crew Places Fifth At IRA Regatta

Saturday, June 2

Camden, N.J.

All Day

Syracuse University

IRA Regatta

SU's varsity eight recorded its best finish in 22 years.

Photo by: Michael J. Okoniewski

6/2/2012 4:46:37 PM | Men's Rowing

Complete Results | Boatings | IRA Coverage

CAMDEN, N.J. - The Syracuse men's crew varsity eight finished a tremendous Intercollegiate Rowing Association (IRA) National Championship Regatta on Saturday by placing fifth in the grand final, the Orange's best finish in 22 years.

Dave Reischman's V8 boat, comprised of Isaac Budmen (coxswain), Aidan Barrett (stroke), Mike Dietrick (7), Chris Bickford (6), Chris Lutz (5), Mason Leasure (4), Mac Zink (3), James Olson (2) and Jake Martens (bow) finished the 2000-meter Cooper River course in a time of 5:32.861 for fifth-place, giving the Orange its best finish since coming in third in 1990.

“The secret to the IRA is to get a little better each race and I thought we did that,” Reischman said. “We did a great job of rising to the challenge. It feels good in particular because of this group of guys. They are believers. They believed in themselves and they believed in each other. I am proud of them and what they accomplished and they deserve the recognition.”

Syracuse, ranked eighth in the latest USRowing Collegiate Poll, made the IRA grand final for the second time in the last three seasons after not making the event for the previous 19 years by out-sprinting No. 5 Princeton for third-place in Friday's semifinal race, finishing just over a half-second ahead of the Tigers.

SU placed sixth in the 2010 IRA grand final.

No. 1 Washington won Saturday's grand final in 5:21.482, followed by No. 2 Brown (5:23.476), No. 3 Harvard (5:24.658), No. 4 California (5:29.497), No. 8 Syracuse and No. 10 Boston University (5:34.888).

The fifth-place finish capped off a successful season for the varsity eight that saw them gain speed and climb in the rankings throughout the spring season, including Conlan Cup and Packard Cup victories.

Syracuse's second varsity eight placed fourth in the petite final in a time of 5:38.927, finishing ahead of Boston University (5:47.147) and Penn (5:55.523). Navy (5:36.110) won the race, followed by Cornell (5:36.567) and Princeton (5:38.179).

In the freshmen eight, the Orange won the third level final in a time of 5:51.157, beating second-place Stanford (5:53.614) by two and a half seconds. Penn (5:59.422), Drexel (6:02.225), Gonzaga (6:02.469) and George Washington (6:07.488) rounded out the field.

The Syracuse open four placed fourth in the petite final, crossing the line in 6:37.422 with an open-water margin on fifth-place Penn (6:44.607) and sixth-place Drexel (6:48.479). Cornell won the race in 6:29.636, followed by Princeton (6:32.025) and Northeastern (6:34.639).

Syracuse's entry in the masters eight placed second in the grand final in 6:33.656, 1.5 seconds behind Cornell's (6:32.150) winning boat and with considerable open water over Penn (6:59.207) and Northeastern (7:15.726).