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Navy Teams Prepares for Rowing's National Championship
June 4, 2008
ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- The 2008 seasons for the Navy men's rowing programs will conclude this week when both the heavyweight and lightweight teams take part in the annual Intercollegiate Rowing Association National Championship Thursday through Saturday on the Cooper River in Cherry Hill, N.J. The varsity boat from Navy's heavyweight team is seeded 10th in the field of 24 boats and will open competition Thursday at 8:12 a.m. in a trial heat that includes No. 2 Wisconsin and No. 7 Northeastern. Those three boats all were grouped into the same trial heat at the Eastern Sprints Championship that was held just over two weeks ago. The Badgers won the heat that day with the Huskies finishing in second 1.1 seconds later and the Mids following less than one-half of a second after the Northeastern crew to place third. The first and second-place finishing boats from each of the four trial heats will advance directly into one of Friday's semifinal races, while the remaining crews will return to the water Thursday afternoon to compete in a repechage race in an attempt to qualify for the semifinals. "As usual the racing should be very close and hotly contested," said Navy heavyweight head coach Rick Clothier. Navy's varsity boat placed 14th last year and will be attempting to qualify for its first grand final appearance since 2004. In addition to having members of its team filling out the lineups of some of the smaller boats entered into the championship this weekend, the varsity boat from Navy's lightweight squad also will be in action Saturday. A pair of trial heats will be held in the morning to split the 12-boat field into the six-boat grand and petite finals that will be contested later in the day. Included in Navy's trial heat are Cornell, winners of the 2008 Eastern Sprints title, and Dartmouth, who finished five seconds in back of the fourth-place Mids in the grand final at the Sprints. "As always, the lightweight league is very tight with three different crews ranked in the top spot throughout the year," said Navy lightweight head coach Rob Friedrich. "It comes down to who has the best race on Saturday. With our recent training, I know our varsity will have a much better race than they did at the Eastern Sprints and that should put us in the hunt."
Since winning the IRA title in 2004, Navy has placed sixth in each of the event's grand finals. Navy's Racing Schedule for Thursday |
 
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