WEST WINDSOR, N.J. – The last regatta of the 2015 season has arrived and the No. 14 Stanford men’s rowing team will compete in two events at the IRA National Championships Friday through Sunday on Mercer Lake in West Windsor, N.J.
The varsity eight is one of 24 crews in the field. The Cardinal will race in the third of four heats on Friday morning at 8:30 a.m. Joining them in the heat are No. 3 Yale, No. 6 Brown, No. 11 Penn, No. 19 Syracuse and No. 22 George Washington.
Stanford’s top boat strung together four straight victories midway through the season. They have faced some of the top competition, including the top two teams, Cal and Washington, who were both ranked No. 1 at the time.
Sophomore coxswain Ardsley Sanders will guide the boat that includes seniors Kaess Smit and Scott Roycroft along with four sophomores and two freshmen. The young boat has been building steam over the last couple of weeks of practice.
“We are the youngest boat in the field by far,” said head coach Craig Amerkhanian. “Age does count, experience does count. We are in a group of 10 crews that are within two seconds of each other.”
The varsity four will race in the final heat of four at 11:48 a.m. on Friday. Stanford will race against Temple, Boston University, Yale, Navy and Syracuse.
This will be the first time the Cardinal has raced in a four since the fall season at the Head of the American. Making the Stanford four is junior coxswain Nathalie Weiss, junior Landon Alecxih, sophomores Peter Wood and Erik Holmvik and freshman Will Spencer.
Full results will be available following the conclusion of each day’s racing.
Live Video
Fans can watch the races live at http://d3cast.com/rowing/
Live Results
Results will be posted at http://ira.qra.org/ and tweeted on the account @ECACRowing