RowingRelated

The trophy table at IRAs (Photo: B. Kitch) It's another championship weekend of racing at the collegiate level in the U.S., with the best of the best in NCAA Rowing gathered in Indianapolis, and the top varsity men's crews on the water at Lake Mercer. With national titles on the line, and incumbents with very strong squads once again, the challengers will have their hands full trying to wrest the titles from the holders' grasp. But, when the wakes settle, we may see new champions crowned in the east and (Mid)west. IRA Crews to Watch The heats are in the books , and this year's top IRA crews will be very familiar from 2013—the strongest men's heavyweight varsity eights are Washington, California, Harvard, Brown, Northeastern, Princeton, and Yale (the top seven at last year's championships). This time, however, we may see some reshuffling of the order. California has been threatening all season, and so far the Huskies have fought them off in impressive fash

This week's video comes to us from the Montlake Cut, where the Washington Huskies have been putting the final touches on their preparation for the 2014 IRA National Championship Regatta , set for this weekend in Princeton. The Huskies, who (inexplicably) started the season as the No. 6-ranked men's varsity eight, are looking to cap off another Pac-12 win with a fourth-straight IRA title (and fifth in the last six years)—but they will have their work cut out for them. The Huskies came through Pac-12s strong, but faced their toughest challenge since the 2013 Cal-Washington Dual , coming back from a four-seat deficit with 500m to go to take the victory by roughly one seat over Cal . Cal and UW race to the line at Lake Natoma (Photo: B. Kitch) While ACRAs are now in the rearview, the varsity-level national championships give us plenty to look forward to, with IRAs taking over Mercer Lake, and the 2014 NCAA Rowing Championships returning to Eagle Creek Park, Indianapolis

This week's video comes to us from the Boston College men's rowing team, and features a look back at the 2014 campaign for the Eagles, which included a trip out west to San Diego for Crew Classic (where they finished seventh overall, winning the Petite Final), and most recently a seventh place finish at ECACs. In addition to some nice on-the-water shots, there's a healthy bit of boathouse banter thrown in ("boatspeed") from what was a solid season for the men in maroon and gold. Next up for BC men's crew? ACRAs, which kick off tomorrow in Gainesville, Georgia, pitting the top collegiate club teams in the country against one another to crown this year's national champion. The 2014 edition of the American Collegiate Rowing Association Championships will be live-streamed and feature very strong crews from Michigan , Virginia , Grand Valley State , and Bucknell renewing their rivalries on Lake Lanier. And so, without further ado, let's take a look

This week's first video comes to us from Big Red, who are prepping for this weekend's showdown in Worcester to determine the fastest crews in the East. Cornell enters the racing as the fifth-ranked varsity eight in a field that has seen some changes over the last 12 months, with Charley Butt taking the helm at Harvard (No. 2) following the loss of Harry Parker, and Yale making good on early-season potential to claim a No. 1 seed. The top of the field is likely to be very tightly packed, with Brown and Princeton not far off the top two crews—will we see a new heavyweight champion crowned on Lake Quinsigamond?

This week's video comes from spring break training camp with our frontrunners for the 2014 ACRA national title, the University of Michigan Wolverines. From the above, it looks as though the Michigan men's squad enjoyed some unfamiliar conditions (sun, warmth), and took full advantage of their camp, on and off the water. The Wolverines are in action this weekend in Philadelphia at the 76th Aberdeen Dad Vail Regatta , and having won their heat are well positioned to take a run at the title again this year—their last heavyweight varsity eight victory came in 2012, when they edged FIT by roughly three tenths of a second to claim the crown on the Schuylkill. Other contenders for the men's varsity eight title this year look to be FIT , Bucknell , Grand Valley , Virginia , and defending champions  Drexel —these are probables for tomorrow's final, though there is a tough round of semis coming up on Saturday morning. For live, streaming coverage of Dad Vails, check out ESP

Cal coxswain Zach Vlahos (third from right) throws out the first pitch at a San Francisco Giants game in 2011, after being honored for Cal's 2010 national title (Photo: B.Kitch) Last week, USRowing celebrated the role of the coxswain in our sport, with the support of two home-grown Olympic champions in the form of Mary Whipple and Pete Cipollone . In the audio interview below, the dynamic duo outline their current projects—including Whipple's upcoming summer rowing camp at the University of Washington (featuring fellow Olympians Anna Goodale , Lindsay Shoop , Erin Cafaro , and Anna Cummins helping out in the coaches' launch), and Cipollone's new coaching website, instaviser.com  (which also involves a few familiar names, not least of which is Adam Kreek )—and reflect on their most significant lessons learned from their time at the highest level of rowing. While at the time of the interview, the winners of USRowing's #coxieappreciation contest weren't

This week's video anticipates tomorrow's 2014 Opening Day Regatta with a look back at the Windermere Cup from four years ago, when Oxford came across to take on the Huskies and the Syracuse Orange on the Montlake Cut. The Oxford crew included a number of standout Blues, among them Ante Kusurin and Sjeord Hamburger , while the Husky lineup counted Conlin McCabe , Ty Otto , Mathis Jessen , and Tom Lehmann among their crew. The video gives a thorough, behind-the-scenes perspective on the event, including interviews with the athletes and Washington men's head coach Mike Callahan . The 2014 Windermere Cup will again see a challenger from across the pond take on the Huskies—this time, however, it's a crew made up of GB squad members who bring a great deal of international racing experience to Seattle. The most experienced and decorated member of the rower among them is Dan Ritchie , who was bow seat of the 2013 world champion GB men's eight, and there are a number