Orange Crew Heads West For IRA Regatta

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SYRACUSE, N.Y. - No. 14 Syracuse men's rowing's 2013 season reaches its pinnacle this weekend when the Orange races at the IRA National Championship Regatta on Lake Natoma in Gold River, Calif. SU is one of 24 crews competing in the invitation-only event.

Head coach Dave Reischman's squad will field four crews at the regatta: the first varsity eight, second varsity eight and varsity four and open four. The Orange is seeded 14^th in the V8 and 11^th in the 2V8.

Syracuse received an at-large bid to the IRA after finishing fifth in the petite final (11^th overall) in the V8 at the EARC Sprints on May 19. The top nine crews in the EARC received automatic bids.

Friday's Draws
Racing begins on Friday morning with heats in all events. Syracuse's first crew, the V8, is scheduled for the day's first heat at 11 a.m. ET in lane five vs. FIT, Cornell, Brown, California and Gonzaga.

The 2V8 will race its heat at 12:45 p.m. ET in lane two vs. Gonzaga, Cal, Northeastern and Navy.

The V4's heat is at 2:15 p.m. ET in lane five vs. Colgate, Navy, Gonzaga, Penn and FIT.

The O4 hear is at 3 p.m. ET in lane five vs. Penn, Wisconsin and Northeastern.

The top two in each heat advances to Saturday's semifinals, while the remaining teams will race in repechages on Friday afternoon. Reps begin at 5 p.m. ET with the top three finishers in each advancing to the semifinals, while the remaining crews sent to Sunday's third-level final.

On Saturday, semifinal races begin at 12:15 p.m. ET with the O4, V4, F8, 2V8 and V8. The last semifinal is slated for 3:45 p.m. ET. Sunday's finals begin at 8 a.m. and run through 12:45 p.m. The main event, the V8 grand final, is scheduled for 3:20 p.m. ET, immediately after the petite final at 3:05.

Follow the Action
Live video of the regatta will be available online all three days. Below is the complete webcast schedule.

Watch Live
Thursday, 11:00 am - 2:30 pm ET - Heats, Men; V8 Heats, 11:00 am start
Thursday, 5:00-6:45 pm ET - Reps, Men; V8 Reps, 5:00 pm start

Friday, 11:30 am - 4:30 pm ET - Semis, Men; Heats, Lwt Women
LW8 Heats, 11:30 am ET start; MV8 Semis, 3:15 pm ET start

Saturday, 11:00 am - 3:45 pm ET - Finals
LW8 Grand, 2:00 pm ET start; MV8 Grand, 2:45 pm ET start; LM8 Grand, 3:30 pm ET start

Live results will be available at:
http://www.row2k.com/

Fans can also join the conversation on Twitter:
Syracuse Men's Rowing: @CuseRowing
Syracuse Athletics: @Cuse
Syracuse Alumni Rowing Association: @SyracuseRowing

Orange Update
Syracuse enters the weekend ranked No. 14 in the latest USRowing Collegiate Poll after finishing fifth in the petite final of the varsity eight at the EARC Sprints on May 19, good for 11^th overall. The Orange placed third in the second varsity eight petite final, fifth in the third varsity eight petite final and won the fourth varsity four race.

SU's young varsity eight has gained speed late in the season. At Eastern Sprints, Reischman's top crew consisted of Andrew Depaulis (coxswain), Conor Finnegan (stroke), Mac Zink (7), Mason Leasure (6), Jake Martens (5), Samuel Jasper (4), Cameron Bierwith (3), Nick Pickard (2) and Tyler Toporowski (bow).

Prior to Sprints, SU recorded a second-place finish in a tight V8 race to Dartmouth in the Packard Cup. The Orange's 2V8 and 3V8 recorded wins over the 16^th-ranked Big Green.

In the Conlan Cup regatta at Columbia on April 27, SU recorded two second-place and three third-place finishes against the No. 10 Lions and No. 13 Boston University, taking third in the V8 and 3V8 and second in the 2V8 and V4.

In its first cup race of the season, the Orange V8 was third at the Goes Trophy behind No. 10 Navy and Cornell. The 2V8 and 3V8 both recorded second-place finishes at the regatta, behind the Midshipmen and ahead of the Big Red.

Last Year's IRA
The Syracuse men's crew varsity eight finished a tremendous IRA on June 2 by placing fifth in the grand final, the Orange's best finish in 22 years, finishing the 2,000-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.

Syracuse 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.

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).

SU's IRA History
Syracuse has won a total of 27 IRA championships. Six of those titles have been won by varsity eight boats, the last in 1978.

Syracuse made its first IRA appearance in 1901 on the Hudson River. It won its first championships in 1904, in the varsity and freshmen eights, two years after James A. Ten Eyck took over as head coach. The regatta's team trophy now bears his name. "The Sly Fox of the Hudson" led SU to subsequent varsity eight titles in 1908, 1913, 1916 and 1920. SU did not win another V8 title until Bill Sanford led Syracuse to the 1978 championship.

SU's 12 freshmen eight titles were in 1904, 1906, 1915, 1922, 1925, 1929, 1930, 1932, 1956, 1976, 1977 and 1978.

The Orange has won six second varsity eight titles with those coming in 1916, 1923, 1931, 1932, 1934 and 1939.

From 1952-1992, the regatta was held on the home water of the Orange, Onondaga Lake. The race had to be moved in 1993 due to flooding, but returned in 1994. It had been held in Camden since 1995, but was moved to Lake Natoma near Sacramento, Calif. in 2009, before returning there this year. The regatta has also been held on the Hudson River in Poughkeepsie, Saratoga Lake, the Ohio River and Cayuga Lake.

IRA Info
The tradition-steeped event, first held in 1895, begins Friday, May 31, and continues through Sunday, June 2. Lake Natoma is widely regarded as one of the finest rowing venues in the U.S.

Competition will be held in the Men's Heavyweight Varsity 8, Men's Second Varsity 8, Men's Varsity 4, Men's Open 4, Men's Freshman 8, Men's Lightweight Varsity 8, and Women's Lightweight Varsity 8. Wednesday and Thursday are practice days at Lake Natoma. Competition begins at 8 a.m. on Friday, 8:30 a.m. on Saturday and 8 a.m. on Sunday.

Washington won five grand finals at last year's IRA Championships and is again favored to win the Ten Eyck Trophy, awarded to the top overall team. Washington dominated the Pacific-10 Conference Championships held earlier this month at Lake Natoma.

Among the schools joining Washington in this year's IRA Championships are California, Stanford, Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Princeton, Pennsylvania, MIT, Darmouth, Wisconsin, U.S. Naval Academy, Syracuse, UC San Diego and Oregon State. The 2009 IRA Championships were the first held on the West Coast.

Syracuse University Athletics

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