Orange Completes Day 1 at IRA Regatta

Friday, May 31

Sacramento, Calif.

11 a.m.

Syracuse University

IRA Regatta (Day 1)

Photo by: Michael J. Okoniewski

5/31/2013 9:03:00 PM | Men's Rowing

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GOLD RIVER, Calif. - No. 14 Syracuse men's rowing's second varsity eight and varsity four recorded repechage victories, while the first varsity eight finished second in its rep on day one of the IRA National Championship Regatta on Friday on Lake Natoma in Gold River, Calif.

Head coach Dave Reischman's V8 began the day by finishing fourth in its morning heat, sending it to the repechages, where the Orange finished second in a three-crew race in a time of 6:08.317. Wisconsin won the rep and the spot in the first and second semifinals by open water in 6:04.044, while SU had open water over third-place Oregon State (6:13.314). SU will race in Saturday's third or fourth semifinal with Sunday's third-level final its best destination.

Due to a headwind that began to develop just before morning heats, lanes were reshuffled with Syracuse's V8 starting in lane two in the first heat of the day. California and Brown quickly separated themselves from the pack, going on to finish first and second in times of 5:40.976 and 5:41.708, respectively, to take the two semifinal spots, while the remaining crews conserved energy over the final 1,000 meters for the afternoon repechages. Cornell (5:53.578) finished third with the Orange (5:57.329) fourth, Florida Tech (5:57.865) fifth and Gonzaga (6:15.003) sixth.

"I thought the varsity raced hard, but didn't get the results we hoped for," Reischman said. "I thought the 2V8 and V4 raced well. The 2V8 in particular had a pretty inspired race in the afternoon."

After a second-place finish in a very competitive fourth heat, SU's 2V8 powered its way to victory in its rep in a time 6:05.235, three quarters of a second ahead of second-place Yale (6:06.002) and open water ahead of third-place Stanford (6:14.915). The win sends the Orange to Saturday's semifinals, with the top three crews in each making Sunday's grand final and the bottom three going to the petite final.

The Orange V4 took a similar route on Friday, placing fifth in heat No. 3 before winning its rep in a time of 6:48.869, a comfortable margin over second-place Princeton (6:52.413), third-place Drexel (6:53.983) and fourth-place George Washington (7:04.998). SU will race in Saturday's first semifinals with the top three going to Sunday's grand final and the bottom three going to the petite final.

Syracuse's fourth crew in the regatta, the open four, placed third in its heat in a time of 7:03.961, behind first-place Northeastern (6:50.374) and second-place Wisconsin (6:57.708) and open water ahead of Penn (7:10.202). The O4 advances to Saturday's semifinals with the top three finish.

Saturday's racing is scheduled to begin at 11:45 a.m. ET with the open fours, followed by the varsity fours at 12:15 p.m. The second varsity eight semifinals begin at 2:00 p.m. ET and the first varsity eights' four semifinals begin at 2:30 p.m. ET.