RANCHO CORDOVA, Calif. - The UC San Diego men's rowing team competed against the nation's top crews Friday on the opening day of action at the 2013 Intercollegiate Rowing Association (IRA) Championship Regatta on Lake Natoma outside of Sacramento.
UCSD, rowing in its third IRA Championship in the history of the program, sent out Varsity 8 and JV 8 boats to race in windy conditions and cooler than predicted temperatures (100 degrees as opposed to the forecasted 106 degrees).
"Overall, it was a good first day," said UCSD head coach Zach Johnson. "Our team didn't back down against the top teams in the country and improved as the day went on. If we can continue to do that throughout the weekend, we hopefully will meet our goals by Sunday."
The Tritons got things started in a stacked heat two of the Varsity 8 division, going up against powerhouse crews such as No. 2 Harvard, No. 7 Princeton, No. 10 Navy, No. 15 Georgetown and No. 19 Oregon State.
UC San Diego placed sixth with a time of 6:21.71. Harvard crossed the line first in 5:47.61 and was followed by Princeton (5:49.18), Navy (5:55.14), Georgetown (5:58.26) and Oregon State (6:01.53).
On the water for the Tritons were Zach Antunes, Zack Attaran, Mark Bennett, John Buda, coxswain Sean Dougherty, Scott Kennedy, Brendan Stainfield, Forrest Sundquist and Kyle Wilson.
Winners of the other Varsity 8 heats included sixth-ranked Cal, No. 1 Washington and No. 5 Northeastern. The top two finishers from each heat advanced directly to Saturday's top-level semifinals, while all others went to repechage races.
Following its heat race, UCSD was back in the water for an afternoon repechage. The Tritons took fourth, recording a time of 6:16.04, over five seconds faster than their morning pace. Ninth-ranked Boston University won the rep in 5:54.30. No. 13 Penn (5:56.80) was second and Florida Tech (6:03.20) placed third.
The winners of each repechage (Boston University, No. 11 Cornell, Navy, No. 12 Wisconsin) earned a spot in Saturday's top-level semifinals (two six-boats semis). The top three finishers from each of those semis qualify for Sunday's grand final, while the bottom three from each race go to the petit final.
UCSD's Varsity 8 will next row in a third semifinal at noon on Saturday. The Tritons will be alongside No. 16 Dartmouth, Georgetown, No. 20 Holy Cross, Oregon State and No. 13 Penn. No. 18 Drexel, Florida Tech, George Washington, Gonzaga and No. 14 Syracuse make up the fourth semifinal field. The top three finishers from semis three and four go to Sunday's third-level final and the rest will compete in the fourth-level final.
The Tritons' JV 8 boat of coxswain Kasey Benjamin, Austin Dahlenburg, Tom Forter, Erik Goebel, Jason Heinen, Daniel Mahan, Jack Maxson, Kendall Pick and Chris Weir rowed to a fifth-place finish in its heat, posting a time of 6:28.21. Brown won the heat in 5:55.46 and was trailed by Wisconsin (5:56.53), Yale (5:59.43) and Holy Cross (6:17.39).
Cal, Princeton and Washington were also JV 8 heat winners.
In the afternoon repechage, UCSD improved its time and was fifth in 6:26.79, edging Gonzaga (6:27.33) by less than a second. Syracuse had a winning time of 6:05.23, Yale (6:06.00) was second, Stanford (6:14.91) was third and Dartmouth (6:15.65) took fourth.
The Tritons will compete in the JV 8 third-level final on Sunday at 10:04 a.m.
"The heats were what we expected with a lot of teams feeling each other out and shutting down at different times," said Johnson. "Both of our boats had a rough start as they had not competed in over a month and needed the heats to regain muscle memory of how to find their rhythm in an actual race."
The 2013 IRA Championship Regatta can be followed by live video.
2013 IRA Championship Regatta
Lake Natoma
Rancho Cordova, Calif.
Friday, May 31
Varsity 8 Heat One
1. Cal 5:40.97
2. Brown 5:41.70
3. Cornell 5:53.78
4. Syracuse 5:57.32
5. Florida Tech 5:57.86
6. Gonzaga 6:15.00
Varsity 8 Heat Two
1. Harvard 5:47.61
2. Princeton 5:49.18
3. Navy 5:55.14
4. Georgetown 5:58.26
5. Oregon State 6:01.53
6. UCSD 6:21.71
Varsity 8 Heat Three
1. Washington 5:45.11
2. Yale 5:47.94
3. Boston University 5:59.08
4. Drexel 6:03.74
5. Dartmouth 6:08.48
Varsity 8 Heat Four
1. Northeastern 5:47.51
2. Stanford 5:51.02
3. Wisconsin 5:52.03
4. Penn 5:56.54
5. Holy Cross 6:05.39
6. George Washington 6:16.64
Varsity 8 Repechage One
1. Cornell 6:02.52
2. Georgetown 6:06.16
3. George Washington 6:11.34
4. Dartmouth 6:15.64
Varsity 8 Repechage Two
1. Navy 6:05.14
2. Drexel 6:09.36
3. Holy Cross 6:12.45
4. Gonzaga 6:13.15
Varsity 8 Repechage Three
1. Boston University 5:54.30
2. Penn 5:56.80
3. Florida Tech 6:03.20
4. UCSD 6:16.04
Varsity 8 Repechage Four
1. Wisconsin 6:04.04
2. Syracuse 6:08.31
3. Oregon State 6:13.31
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JV 8 Heat One
1. Washington 5:52.63
2. Boston University 5:55.57
3. Cornell 6:01.66
4. Dartmouth 6:09.41
5. Oregon State 6:09.74
JV 8 Heat Two
1. Brown 5:55.46
2. Wisconsin 5:56.53
3. Yale 5:59.43
4. Holy Cross 6:17.39
5. UCSD 6:28.21
JV 8 Heat Three
1. Princeton 5:58.45
2. Harvard 6:04.82
3. Penn 6:08.44
4. Stanford 6:12.65
JV 8 Heat Four
1. Cal 5:52.58
2. Northeastern 5:58.43
3. Syracuse 6:01.92
4. Navy 6:02.65
5. Gonzaga 6:23.41
JV 8 Repechage One
1. Cornell 6:08.93
2. Penn 6:12.30
3. Oregon State 6:17.13
4. Navy 6:17.74
5. Holy Cross 6:21.11
JV 8 Repechage Two
1. Syracuse 6:05.23
2. Yale 6:06.00
3. Stanford 6:14.91
4. Dartmouth 6:15.65
5. UCSD 6:26.79
6. Gonzaga 6:27.33
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