Varsity 8 Places Sixth at IRA National Championship, Orange Finish 7th in Ten Eyck Points

Friday, May 31

Mercer Lake, NJ

8 AM

Syracuse University

IRA Regatta

Varsity 8 Places Sixth at IRA National Championship, Orange Finish 7th in Ten Eyck Points

6/2/2024 2:20:00 PM | Men's Rowing

Syracuse University's men's rowing team finished seventh in the Ten Eyck Trophy (team points) standings, at the 2024 IRA National Championship. The Orange Varsity Eight reached its fourth-straight Grand Final, where they placed sixth on Sunday morning in the final race of the season. Seventh ties the highest team points finish for the Orange squad in over 20 years; Syracuse was seventh most recently as 2022.

"It's a great accomplishment for the entire team to put an eight in the Grand Final for the fourth straight year," Syracuse head coach Dave Reischman said. "You know, a lot of people counted us out because we graduated some really good oarsmen last year. All the credit to these guys because I think looking back to the start of practice in September, maybe a Grand Final seemed a long way away and a little out of our reach. But they just focused one day at a time, tried to get faster every day and have fun every day, and those added up after a while.

The Third Varsity Eight (3V8) started Sunday's finals off with a second-place finish in the Petite Final to earn eighth in the country. Stroked by Cort McNichol and coxed by junior Joseph Biondolillo, the Orange finished 1.003 seconds behind Yale (5:47.439), ending the 2,000-meter race in 5:48.442. 'Cuse had open water on the remaining field which included Boston University in third (5:53.922), Cornell (5:56.939), Northeastern (5:57.592), and Penn (5:58.992).

The Second Varsity Eight, coxed by senior Mark Ezaki with sophomore Anders Erlandsen in stroke seat, won the Petite Final in a time of 5:42.332, 2.024 seconds head of second-place Yale (5:44.356). The seventh overall finish for the Orange 2V8 is the third-straight year the Orange earned a top-10 finish. Penn (5:44.996) was third, 10^th overall, while Boston University (5:45.706), Cornell (5:51.692), and Northeastern (5:55.222) followed behind. Ezaki and his fellow seniors in the 2V8, Sean McHugh and Alex DeGrado, and graduate student Max McFadden ended their Syracuse careers with a win in their final race.

"I'm pretty sure, in my tenure anyway, that's our best team finish – three crews in the top eight," Reischman added. "We have struggled traditionally with depth a little bit so to have three crews in the top eight was a great accomplishment for our team. And to have the four also join us and be in a Petite Final and make a top-12, I just thought it was a very good overall performance."

In the last race of the day, the Orange Varsity Eight was deadlocked with the field for the opening 500 meters. As SU moved through the midway point, they were a few seats down on the field but battling it out with Princeton. The Orange crossed the finish in 5:37.749 in sixth place. It was the fourth-straight Grand Final race for Syracuse, who placed fourth in 2021, and fifth each of the last two IRA Championships in 2022 and 2023. Washington won the title finishing the Grand Final in 5:27.233 while Harvard (5:28.976) and California (5:30.446) earned silver and bronze. Princeton (5:34.469) and Yale (5:34.729) finished fourth and fifth, respectively.

"I think we are in a good place because of the excitement we have across the team and the culture we have within our team," Reischman added when asked about the future of the program. "We graduate seven athletes across all boats – five oarsmen and two coxwains. We have a varsity boat that made the Grand Final and is only graduating one oarsmen and one coxswain, and we have some good recruits coming in on paper. We will have to see how they handle life in Syracuse. But I feel like we are in a good place, we have a good coaching staff and things are in a good place."

The 2024 season comes to an end with all three eights earning a top-8 finish in the finals of the IRA Championship and a 12^th place finish for the Varsity Four. Syracuse bids farewell to seniors Mark Ezaki, Alex DeGrado, Sean McHugh, Joe Willis, Michael Harris, Reilly Eagan and graduate student Max McFadden.

For a behind-the-scenes look of Syracuse's IRA Championship weekend, follow @CuseMRowing on social media.