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WEST WINDSOR, N.J. – The No. 1 Stanford lightweight rowing team put themselves in a good position for Sunday’s grand finals with wins in the varsity eight and varsity four heats on Saturday morning.
“We executed the plan we wanted to,” said head coach Derek Byrnes. “We had two good, clean heats and put ourselves in a good position to be in for the final.”
Saturday provided windier conditions for the crews on the water early in the morning as it did yesterday. The first heat of the lightweight varsity eight start the second day of the IRA National Championships. Stanford was in the middle lane of the race, its first of the weekend.
The Cardinal had a solid start and got out to a two seat lead by around the 400 meter mark. That is when they started making a move on No. 4 Princeton and No. 5 Wisconsin. By the 750 mark Stanford had stretched the lead to just under a boat length.
From there it was all senior coxswain Jordan Duval-Smith and the top-ranked Cardinal. They kept the lead just that for the last 1,250 meters, as every time either Princeton or Wisconsin tried to make a move Stanford answered and wouldn’t give up an inch.
The rest of the race was a battle for the second automatic qualifying spot into the Grand Final. Princeton and Wisconsin were neck and neck until the final stretch when the Badgers had a stronger finish and advanced by a few seats. Stanford’s winning time was 6:34.018, just under three seconds ahead of Wisconsin.
The varsity eight will race for a national championship tomorrow at 8:50 a.m. ET.
Shortly after the varsity eight finished, the varsity four started its race. The Cardinal took a slight lead early over Harvard and Boston University and were up three seats at the first 500 meter point.
The lead lengthened out to open water for Stanford by the 750 mark. Meanwhile, after a rough start, Wisconsin really started charging to make it a three-team race for second.
In the second half of the race, the Cardinal maintained its rhythm and its open water lead. The Badgers continued to move all the way into second. Wisconsin sprinted to close the gap on Stanford, but the Cardinal still finished a seat of open water ahead of the Badgers with a time of 7:26.898.
The win sets the stage for tomorrow’s Grand Final where the Cardinal will vie for a national title in the event at 10:30 a.m. ET.
The final race of the day did not count towards the team points total, but was a great chance for a pair of freshmen to race at the IRA National Championships. Hannah Levy and Isabelle Foster competed in the Grand Final of the 2x.
“I am really excited about our lightweight double,” said Byrnes. “It was exciting to watch those two race. They did a great job for as little time they have spent training in that boat.”
The two Cardinal rowers put forth a tremendous effort and came away with silver medals. Levy and Foster posted a time of 7:42.455 to finish just over four seconds behind Wisconsin. Stanford was eight seconds faster than third-place Boston University.