The IRA headwind arrived just as predicted on Saturday and the slightly longer races–along with decisions to shift lanes in favor of the heat winners–provided drama right off the bat: in the slower conditions, in the first M8 semi Northeastern had the time they needed to haul in Harvard and make the Grand in their stead behind Cal and Washington in the first Varsity Eight Semi.
The fact that the lanes had been shifted and that Harvard was one lane further over in that building wind might have suggested that Northeastern got through in a more sheltered lane, but as the racing went on, crews were advancing from pretty much every lane, to include the Syracuse 1V in lane 5 and the Washington 3V winning its semi outright from lane four over Cal and Yale in the “better lanes.”
So the wind was really more challenging than unfair, especially with the “texture” it was adding to the water as you got closer to the start. The headwind was adding 7-8 seconds per 500 for the fastest eights, so the extra time was significant and, for the Huskies of Boston in that first semi, telling.
Northeastern
In the second semi, Princeton had what coach Greg Hughes called ‘a good pull,’ winning it by getting out on Yale in the middle thousand and making it stick on this, their third try after narrow, late losses to Yale at the Carnegie Cup and the Sprints. Syracuse, the Sprint bronze medal winner who has been making a spot in IRA Grand a bit of a habit these past three years, will join them after rowing a poised and savvy race that held Brown at bay all the way down the track.
Across the AB Semis, Cal, Washington and Yale put all three Ten Eyck scoring boats into the Grand Finals and, for the record, that means it is near certain one of those schools will win the points tally tomorrow. For Cal, it would be their 3rd Ten Eyck, for Yale, their second (in a row), and for Washington, well, number 18.
Saturday’s racing also set for the stage for the Lightweight Women’s finals on Sunday as well, with the three “races for lanes” that started the day. The Princeton Light Women won all three, and are clearly still setting the pace in the eights event which will decide the championship.
Princeton Light Women
The Tigers also prevailed in an exciting race in the four, over MIT, which won gold in that event last year and is focused on that race again this year. Princeton won the light women’s double as well, over the duo from Radcliffe. Eight different schools are entered in the light women’s events, but only six will contest the championship in the eight: Princeton, Stanford, Georgetown, BU, Radcliffe, and Wisconsin, who finished in that order today. MIT will race just in the four–which they won last year–and the double, while Gordon is just racing the double.
In addition to the lane shift, Saturday’s whole program started a half-hour earlier and ran on 8 minute centers to get racing done before the heavier winds forecast for midday might arrive. Sunday will run on the condensed schedule as well, and the wind will shift to a full cross-wind from the port side of the course–though the hope is that it will stay light enough to let the crews themselves sort out the finish order.
Varsity Eight, Semi #1 – Cal, Washington, Northeastern
Cal took care of its business today, handling the shift in conditions with aplomb.
California
“You have to get used to all conditions and be ready to race in all conditions, but those were some challenging conditions out there,” said Cal’s Scott Frandsen afterwards.
“There weren’t clean races happening, so it was about whoever can get through the little bumps and wobbles and then get back on to the ratio, the rhythm and their full charge quicker.
“I was pleased with how the guys raced it once again. It wasn’t the cleanest but it was it was good and persistent and fast, and it sets up tomorrow.”
Cal put all three of its eights into the Grands, to include a semifinal win by their 2V, and then ended their day with a win in the Four that we will cover in Saturday’s Finals report. That full team effort pleased Frandsen as well.
“Especially in the last two years, it’s been about building that depth down to three eights, four eights, then five and six eights,” noted Frandsen, “and the Four winning is a great indication of that depth.
“I think that has an impact, when you see other crews within your team go out and do really well. It gives you that confidence that in those tough moments in the races, that as a team, we’re going to be able to come through. So, I’m really happy for the four and the guys that are here as spares, too. They’ve all been contributing to this all year, and then the guys that aren’t here, they’ve been contributing to the team, and it really is a statement of where we’re at as a team.
“Obviously big races tomorrow, but happy with where we are at right now.”
Varsity Eight, Semi #2 – Princeton, Yale, Syracuse
The three Eastern Sprints medalists took the second heat, but the Tigers upset the order we saw up in Worcester, taking the win this time around, in the headwind.
“That’s the first time all year we’ve raced in that kind of conditions,” said head coach Greg Hughes, “and it was challenging, but the guys are really pumped about having a solid race when it was so challenging. But, of course, it’s a full reset for tomorrow.”
Hughes said that even the chance of a Sunday crosswind, and the importance of earning a better lane draw with a win today did not really factor into the plan for the semi.
“The goal was just to have a piece that gave us a shot at the final. It was as simple as that: go out and put ourselves in position to go another day.”
Behind Yale, Syracuse put themselves back in the Grand Final for the third year running, handling both everything Brown could throw at them and the untidy water.
“The crew said it was messy,” head coach Dave Reischman said about the water. “In talking to the crews that came off the water, it was bouncier in that first part of the race than we could see on on the big screen, so they said it was maybe not the cleanest race.
“From what I saw, it looked like Brown made three or four nice attacks on us and closed some margin, but we just stayed poised and did our thing. The crew did laugh a bit and said, ‘I don’t know if we felt poised,’ but they are a pretty mature crew. They’ve been in a lot of big races together and they’ve performed well.
“They are pretty versatile,” said Reischman, when asked whether the headwind played to the crew’s strengths in any way. “They’re eight good athletes who can adapt and can handle things pretty well. I just thought it was a gutsy race. Everybody knew what was happening wind-wise on the race course, but we have this thing we do: no matter what lane we get, we just look at each other and say, Hey, lucky us, we’ve got the fastest lane on the race course. Let’s go do it.”
The Parity aka Competitive Depth in Men’s Rowing
A recurring theme with the coaches of these Varsity Eights this week is what Greg Hughes called the “parity” in men’s rowing in an interview after the Eastern Sprints, and what Scott Frandsen termed as the “competitive depth” of the field this year.
With both Brown and Harvard achingly close to making the Grand in today’s semis, that parity and depth put eight crews–and possibly nine, since Stanford was not far off despite a trip through the reps–within striking distance of the medals this year, and these coaches see that as a positive sign for the health of the sport at its highest collegiate level.
In yesterday’s report, Frandsen called the strength of the field, and the number of schools with top end speed this year “a great statement for men’s rowing.”
Washington
Hughes framed it like this, “That parity says a lot about men’s rowing and where it’s at right now. It’s at an all-time mark, and I think our sport needs it.
“When you think to what was going on a couple of years ago, with Stanford getting cut for a bit there, and some of the threats to other programs, like FIT, that shows us as coaches why we need to keep our heads on a swivel and fight for this sport. We also need to understand our role, in that we’re more than just coaches of our teams and we have to understand the big picture of our sport.
“We need to get more people here to see this close racing, because it’s so cool. And I think, if our administrators watched that, I think they would get it. And then they might also fight for us. So I think that this high level across the board is important.
“When you look at what happens in rowing internationally, these IRA boats are fast. It’s not just that they’re all similar speeds, but they’re fast. There’s just a high caliber of athlete, and it’s cool to see that there’s talent now in more than just a few schools. I think that’s really important, and we as coaches need to make sure that we’re doing things to make that happen even more. We can’t just stockpile arms. We need to think about what do we have to do to make sure that the sport does have this kind of energy and excitement.”
To Steve Gladstone’s eye, the depth of the field comes down to the high caliber of the rowing in the crews he’s seen here.
“The quality is terrific,” Gladstone said of the rowing, “Terrific really through the small finals. When you watch these crews go by, and you watch the rowing: the rowing is really solid. After that, it really comes down to the men in the boat. How well did they row and how powerful are they.”
Yale
“With the introduction of the internet, and all of the podcasts and video that has to do with rowing, people can look and think and, then people can teach. So the quality is just way up there.
“I think it starts where you would think it starts. It starts with the quality of the coaching. It as simple as that: it starts with the quality of coaching. And then you move from there, because the coaching [here] is high quality all the way through.”
Notes from the Course
Too much Hootin’ & Hollerin’? One V8 semi got scolded twice for ‘decorum during the polling’ since the crews were a bit to, ahem, vocal while the starter was trying to get the races going. A few races later, it happened again, with another school altogether.
Now, It’s Down to Dirty Socks – last year, announcer Dave Vogel made the very good point that racing is always important to the guys in the boats, even in the small finals, guys who wouldn’t care what prize they were racing for, so long as they could win it. Last year, Vogel’s theoretical prize was a stale donut, this year? “These guys wouldn’t care if they were racing for a dirty sock…”
How windy? Windy enough for the starter to keep checking on things with a handy Kestrel wind meter (and for the stakeboaters to get splashed a bit by the water lapping up on the start dock.)
Light Women’s Doubles in first race of the morning