ITHACA, N.Y. — Coming off an impressive showing at the Eastern Sprints Championship in Worcester, Mass., two weekends ago, the Cornell men's lightweight rowing team looks to carry its momentum into this weekend's IRA National Championship on Mercer Lake in West Windsor, N.J.

Cornell will deploy a trio of crews at this weekend's IRA National Championship, sending out a 1V8+, 2V8+, and 1V4+. The 1V8+ will go up against seven crews from Dartmouth, Harvard, MIT, Navy, Penn, Princeton, and Yale while the 2V8+ will battle the same crews as the 1V8+ sans MIT. In the 1V4+, the Big Red will battle 10 other crews from Columbia, Dartmouth, Georgetown, Harvard, Marietta, MIT, Navy, Penn, Princeton, and Yale.

2023 IRA NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RECAP
At last year's IRA National Championship, also held on Mercer Lake, the Big Red finished tied with Yale for fifth place in the Points Trophy Standings, concluding the weekend with 36 points. Princeton claimed first place with a 54-point total, edging Harvard (50 points). Navy and Penn were tied for third with 40 points.

Cornell finished third in the 1V8+ and 2V8+ heats on Friday while logging a fifth-place time in the 1V4+ time trial before having its semifinal later on the day canceled due to weather.

In Saturday's events, Cornell's 1V4+ earned a silver medal with a time of 7:18.211, finishing five seconds behind first-place finishing Georgetown (7:13.189).

On Sunday, the Big Red's 1V8+ and 2V8+ both placed fifth in their respective finals races, both concluding the 2000-meter course seven-plus seconds Princeton, which won both races.

EASTERN SPRINTS RECAP
The Big Red claimed a pair of first-place victories in the 3V8+ and 4V8+, while placing third in team points for the Jope Cup. Cornell's 2V8+ placed fourth in a hard-fought race and the 1V8+ finished in fifth place. The 1V4+ placed second in come-from-behind fashion in a three-crew race against Georgetown and Harvard.

"We had no idea what the competition was going to bring to the table," said Tyler Nase, the Henry E. Bartels '48 Head Coach of Cornell Men's Lightweight Rowing. "For some context, Georgetown had been racing a 3V throughout the regular season, but only entered a 1V and 2V at Sprints. Harvard also did not enter a 4V. Our 4+ was comprised of our 5V athletes, one of whom is a true novice, Dylan Keusch. Dylan was the team's manager last year who only started rowing this fall. It was cool to watch this crew take on the challenge of punching above their relative boat class.

"I don't think I've ever seen a closer opening 500 meters. All three crews ran dead level. Georgetown made a good push in the second 500 to take the lead, and we followed suit behind them. Harvard came pushing back through us in the third 500, but we held connection and sprinted through them to take second."

Despite no official time being taken in the 4V8+, Cornell's 4V had "quite a dramatic racing experience," according to Nase, as the crew lost their skeg either in the warmup or in the race.

"It is challenging to even paddle all eight without a skeg, let alone do a full-blown 2K," Nase said. "We showed true perseverance and our guys gave it everything they had despite the boat not being stable and not going straight. From what the crew reported, nothing about the race or the steering felt normal."

Cornell unofficially took second place by one second behind Navy. Yale, which placed third, protested Navy as the Bulldogs' crew deemed that Navy's crew impeded their performance, resulting in the officials to adjust Navy's finish behind Yale despite actually winning the race, leading to Cornell claiming the first of its two gold medals on the day.

"It was a weird way to win," Nase stated. "You train so hard and want to perform your best on race day. Our guys were certainly disappointed they couldn't display what they had trained so hard for due to the skeg issue. I can understand how winning on a technicality feels odd. My take on the situation was that our 4V probably has the world record for the fastest 2K done without a skeg (6:04). If they had quit or given up because it didn't feel right, then they never would have placed second unofficially and won. Regardless, a win is a win, and we are all incredibly proud of how these athletes displayed true grit in a tough situation.

Senior Sean McFadden capped his collegiate rowing career in the 4V8+ and earned a third championship at Eastern Sprints and had never lost a regular-season race during his time with the Big Red.

The latter first-place finish for Cornell came in the 3V8+ as the Big Red claimed the Kilpatrick Cup for the first time since 2015. Like the 4V8+, this crew also had to navigate some obstacles as one of the boats in the race had a breakage, causing a 40-minute delay before racing resumed. On the second start, Cornell jumped out to the lead and pushed the paced for the entire race, generating a wire-to-wire victory and finishing its regular-season schedule without a loss.

Racing out of an unlucky No. 6 lane in the 2V8+ final, the Big Red JV crew had a great start and took the lead through the first 500 meters and extended their lead in the second 500-meter segment. Penn, Harvard, and Princeton, who were racing in the first three lanes, started pushing each other and pushed into Cornell in the third 500. Pushing hard to close out the piece, the trio of Ivy League rivals came through Cornell, finishing in fourth place and was one second off of second and third place.

"The JV is fired up to set the record straight this week at IRAs," Nase said. "We've had some hard sessions back at home last week."

In the final race of the day, Cornell's 1V8+ got off the line okay and were in a decent position. Harvard pushed the pace for the duration of the race, while Penn and Princeton battled in the second 500. Finishing in fifth place, the crew still qualified for this weekend's IRA National Championship.

"When I met them on the dock, I could tell they were gutted. I could feel their pain," Nase said. "Bad races sometimes happen for no reason, and those are hard lessons to learn at Eastern Sprints. I still know they gave it their all, and they are capaible of winning this week. The message to the crew after the race was, we had a bad bat and next time we step up to the plate we better forget about it all and be ready to hit a home run. No one is throwing in the towel and we are all ready to attack these last couple of days before IRAs."

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
1V8+: Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, MIT, Navy, Penn, Princeton, Yale

2V8+: Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Navy, Penn, Princeton, Yale

1V4+: Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Georgetown, Harvard, Marietta, MIT, Navy, Penn, Princeton, Yale

CORNELL BOATINGS
To be announced