Two Crews Turn In First-Place Finishes on Day Two of IRA Championships
6/1/2007 12:00:00 AM | Heavyweight Rowing
With that thought lurking in the backs of their minds, the Columbia freshman heavyweight eight stepped up to the challenge and not only avoided elimination, but won its semifinal race over such opponents as Syracuse, Dartmouth and Rutgers.
The freshman heavies were one of two Lion crews to finish first on Friday ? the other was the varsity pair, which came from second place with a brilliant final 400 meters to knock off Georgia Tech in the Repechage and advance to Saturday's Grand Final.
“The varsity pairs race was a very hard race,” assistant lightweight coach Vaclav Kacir said. “We were in second place most of the first 1600 meters, but the boys kept their composure. In the last 400 meters, we walked through Georgia Tech for the win.”
Head men's coach Mike Zimmer also was impressed with the pair, which was manned by two lightweight sophomores, Greg Pupo and Brian Mulligan. “They rowed a heady, poised race,” he noted.
The Columbia boat, which posted the fastest time of any Repechage entrant, will compete in the Grand Final Saturday at 9:30 a.m. against Cornell, California, Yale, Wisconsin and Temple.
The freshman heavies had lost their opportunity to compete in the Grand or Petite finals when they were edged by Georgetown in the Friday Repechage by just 17/100 of a second. Clearly motivated, they went out quickly in their semifinal race, and were up by two seats over the favored Syracuse eight after the first 500 meters.
The Lions held a slight lead through the middle 1000, expanding it slightly. In the last 500, they held off the Orange and won by 2.3 seconds, as Dartmouth was third. All three will row in Saturday's Third Level Final, at 8:55 a.m., and will be joined by Wisconsin, Navy and Boston U.
The varsity and second varsity eights “really struggled,” as Mike Zimmer said. “They didn't row to their capacity.”
Although the varsity fell behind early in its semifinal, and never threatened, the second varsity was in contention all the way. They actually made a good push in the middle 1000, but came up short in the final 500.
The Lions had to finish in the top three to advance to the Third Level Final. However, they finished fifth, five seconds behind third-place Delaware, and were eliminated from further IRA competition.
The varsity advanced to the Fourth Level Final, scheduled for 1:21 p.m. Saturday. Columbia will compete with Dartmouth, Holy Cross, George Washington, Purdue and Marist.
The Columbia varsity lightweights will row in the opening heat of the National Lightweight Championship, held in conjunction with the IRA. The Lions, seeded eighth overall, are seeded fifth in their opening heat, at 7:22 a.m. They will vie with top-seeded Dartmouth, the Eastern Sprints champion, Harvard, Navy, Georgia Tech and Delaware for a spot in the Grand Final; the top three in each heat advance to the Grand Final, the others to the Petite Final. The lightweight finals are the final events of Saturday's racing.
Friday's results:
IRA National Championship Regatta
Friday, June 1, 2007
Cooper River, Camden County, N.J.
Varsity Eight - Semifinal
1. Virginia, 5:40.370
2. Boston U., 5:40.425
3. Syracuse, 5:41.097
4. Purdue, 5:43.852
5. Holy Cross, 5:50.564
6. COLUMBIA, 6:00.140
Second Varsity Eight - Semifinal
1. Georgetown, 5:56.428
2. George Washington, 6:00.105
3. Delaware, 6:00.449
4. Colgate, 6:03.081
5. COLUMBIA, 6:05.654
Freshman Eights - Semifinal
1. COLUMBIA, 6:02.104
2. Syracuse, 6:04.341
3. Dartmouth, 6:05.401
4. Delaware, 6:08.348
5. Rutgers, 6:11.726
6. Bucknell, 6:13.895
Varsity Pair - Repechage
1. COLUMBIA, 7:00.246
2. Georgia Tech, 7:04.220
3. Rutgers, 7:12.485
4. MIT, 7:39.551
5. Minnesota, 7:42.638
Players Mentioned
