IRA National Championship Regatta, 2016: RR Picks and Predictions

Washington Huskies training in Seattle (Photo: B. Kitch)

It's time for the 2016 Intercollegiate Rowing Association National Championship Regatta. Here's what we think is going to happen.

In our minds, there are four teams who have separated themselves from the pack and shown that they have what it takes to win a championship this year. Rather than kill you with suspense, we'll lay it out right here:

Those teams are Yale, Washington, California, and Princeton. Now, here's the tricky part—we think it goes in that order, too.

While the coaches polls and season results to date have gone the way of Cal, and many favor Princeton over their West Coast rivals, the fact is that Washington are coming in as the five-time defending champions, and frankly, they know how to get it done when it matters most. The margins with California haven't been enormous all season (at the Dual it was nearly nil), and while they've lost both meetings with the Bears, it has never been by more than two-thirds of a length. And, the Husky propaganda machine is in full effect (see below)—all signs point to them firing on all cylinders coming into the most meaningful race of the year.



However, all that being said, Cal, too, has the talent to get it done (with RR Collegiate Male Athlete of the Year in 2015, Natan Wegrzycki-Szymczyk leading the way) if everything comes together in New Jersey.

Which brings us to Yale and Princeton. This season, Yale has looked like the team to beat, and deservedly so. They've got a chip on their shoulder from last season's loss in the semis, and so far this year they have taken care of business: they had an outstanding race at the Head Of The Charles, and haven't looked back since, sweeping the East Coast during the regular season and through Sprints. Princeton, though, haven't been far off the pace, and Greg Hughes & co. know how to build program depth—still, it's the speed at the top end that will be the question. Can the Tigers put all that #wattfarming to good use at the highest level?

Putting all of the above together, here's our take for the men's heavyweight varsity eight grand final:

1. Yale
2. Washington
3. California
4. Princeton
5. Brown
6. Harvard

Call us crazy, but ranking Washington fourth given their year-over-year performance at IRAs doesn't make sense.

A video posted by @tigerheavies on


Moving on to the lightweights, again, Yale has the mojo this year. Looking back at Eastern Sprints, the seeds all performed exactly as they were supposed to, and it's hard to see anything huge changing about that, with the possible exception of Cornell—Big Red will be a crew to watch for the podium, in our opinion, as Princeton will be looking to see if they can avoid a late-season fade that has plagued the program over the past few years. Also, if Harvard continues their championship surge as they have over the past couple years, we may see the Crimson in the final.

1. Yale
2. Columbia
3. Cornell
4. Princeton
5. Penn
6. Navy

For the women's lightweight eight, we think Derek Byrnes is going to be winning. A lot. While there has been greater parity on the East Coast this year, with Boston University making big strides for the program against Charles rivals Radcliffe, in our opinion, everyone is going to be chasing the crew from the Bay Area—look for Stanford to repeat this year.

1. Stanford
2. Boston University
3. Radcliffe
4. Wisconsin
5. Princeton
6. MIT

It's nearly time for the racing to begin! Good luck to everyone out there competing, and we'll be watching with a keen eye for the top performers this weekend on Lake Mercer, or Mercer Lake, whichever you prefer.

-RR

Popular posts from this blog

The 30 Best Rowing Coaches of All Time, Part 3: The Top 10

Image
The top 10 best rowing coaches, including guess who (Photo © Iain Weir / Rowing Photography ) It's time for the third and final part of our 3-part series on the best of the best in the rowing coaching ranks. These coaches not only command respect based on performance, but have also shown the ability to adapt to new circumstances, build dynasties, and ultimately help shape the trajectory of rowing as a sport. Honestly, it would be easy to extend this series into 10 more posts... But we wouldn't do that to you. As we've said before, the hope is that the following may serve to educate and spark discussion, as both an appreciation of history and of the coaching craft. Also note: As we stated in Part 1 and Part 2 of this series, there are few women in this list, but that is a reflection of a general underrepresentation of women in the head coaching ranks in our sport—and indeed (as has been well documented ) a growing number of NCAA sports in the United States.
Read more

"I Row Crew" — Rowing in 'The Social Network'

Image
Like many of the rowing faithful, I've been keeping up with the saga penned by Dan Boyne about the filming of the rowing scenes in David Fincher and Aaron Sorkin's The Social Network , and I must say I had high hopes going into the film. The first problem I encountered: the phrase, "I row crew." It was uttered so many times before anyone "rowed crew" on the water that I had trouble buying any of it later. It's understandable that the character of Mark Zuckerberg makes that mistake, since he has no idea about the sport. But when the Winklevoss twins themselves utter the phrase several times, one begins to wonder where Boyne was when these lines were not being chopped or changed. Seriously, who says that? As far as the actual rowing goes, the first scene, which has the twins out training in a pair along with the rest of the Harvard squad, is not all bad — it just ends that way. The line, "Those guys are freakin' fast" is certainly every b
Read more

RR Interview: Nick Trojan's New Feature on Yale Men's Rowing

Image
Nick Trojan's latest feature documentary is twice as long as his previous work—but leaves you wanting more, just the same.  There’s a new feature in Nick Trojan’s series, taking an inside look at top-tier college rowing programs in the US. This time, Trojan focused his project on Yale and the legendary coach Steve Gladstone, blending outstanding camerawork with one of rowing’s most compelling stories.  Having uploaded the video to YouTube only two weeks ago, it’s already approaching 70k views. And for good reason.  RR sat down recently to talk through it all with Trojan in an exclusive interview, from origins to development and finally a finished product—as well as what might come next. Here’s what we learned. Navigating shifting waters Elite rower turned filmmaker Nick Trojan’s new feature, titled simply, “Yale Men’s Rowing,” was years in the making.  “The initial idea was to do the same kind of rinse-and-repeat that we had done with Harvard and Cal,” Trojan says, “but I think wha
Read more

Video Of The Week: Holland Beker 2013

This week's video comes to us from the Bosbaan, where the 2013 Holland Beker saw truly elite, international competition over the weekend. Perhaps the most outstanding racing came in the women's single, where the A Final closely mirrored a world championship or Olympic final in recent years—the lineup included two-time Olympic champ Ekaterina Karsten of Belarus, Kim Crow of Australia, New Zealand's Emma Twigg , reigning Olympic champion Mirka Knapkova of the Czech Republic, another two-time Olympic champion (albeit in the women's eight) in Eleanor Logan , and 2012 Olympic bronze medalist (also in the eight) Chantal Achterberg of Holland. As it turned out, the final was a wire-to-wire victory for Kim Crow, who looks to be on top form and may be the athlete to beat in this event for the foreseeable future, holding off both Karsten and Twigg in the closing stretch, with Knapkova finishing fourth. Elle Logan had another solid race in a great field, finishing just over
Read more

Best Rowing Drills: 5 Favorites of Olympic Champion Esther Lofgren

Image
Lofgren training in the single (Photo courtesy of Esther Lofgren) Olympic gold medalist Esther Lofgren is no stranger to success on the water. In addition to her podium-topping performance with the U.S. women's eight in London, Lofgren also won two world titles (2010, 2011), with her first international medal—a bronze—coming in the women's straight four in 2006. Here, Lofgren shares some insight into the drills that have helped her progress technically along the way.
Read more