PENNSAUKEN, N.J. – The Stanford men’s varsity eight placed ninth overall at the Intercollegiate Rowing Association Championships on Sunday on Cooper River Lake, in a possible school record.
Racing in the B Final, Stanford placed third while covering the 2,000-meter course in 5:27.11. The time was a season best by seven seconds, over its semifinal time of 5:34.37.
By every measure, Stanford men’s rowing showed marked improvement over 2024. With lineups dominated by underclassmen, all three Stanford boats – varsity and second varsity eights, and the fours – finished higher than last year by a combined 11 places.
In the Ten Eyck Trophy points standings, Stanford was 12th with 148 points – its best place and point total since placing 10th in 2021 with 218 points.
In the 1V8+, Stanford was among the top five boats in the B final that finished with a faster time than winning Washington’s 5:29.78 in the Grand Final 20 minutes later.
Stanford improved across the board: ninth in the 1V8+ (12th last year), eighth in the 2V8+ (13th), 16th in the 1V4+ (19th), and 12th in the Ten Eyck standings (14th).
In each of its semifinals Saturday, Stanford got off to slow starts. It seemed to be an emphasis on Sunday that the same would not happen.
In the 1V8+, Stanford bolted into the lead. That was somewhat surprising considering that Cal’s boat, ranked No. 1 going into the regatta but suffering misfortune by catching an oar in the water late in the semifinal, was in the same race.
Stanford led through 500 in a fast 1:18.028, but dropped to third at 1,000 and fifth at 1,500. However, the Card surged hard, covering the last 500 in 1:21.944 to overtake both Penn (fourth) and Yale (fifth) in a tight finish among the three.
In the 2V8+ B final, the start was even and the race close between Stanford and Northeastern for second and third behind Princeton. The Cardinal had a slight deficit at 1,500, but closed in 1:23.379, the fastest final 500 of the race, and edged Northeastern by 0.15.
With a young squad that will return nearly everyone, Stanford is clearly trending upward. The future looks bright indeed.
IRA Championships
At Cooper River Park
Sunday’s results
1V8+
B Final – 1, California 5:24.04; 2, Northeastern 5:25.45; 3, Stanford 5:27.11; 4, Pennsylvania 5:27.32; 5, Yale 5:28.01; 6, Navy 5:34.34. Stanford places ninth overall.
2V8+
B Final – 1, Princeton 5:34.52; 2, Stanford 5:34.85; 3, Northeastern 5:35.00; 4, Dartmouth 5:38.39; 5, Pennsylvania 5:38.59; 6, Boston University 5:47.25. Stanford places eighth overall.
Ten Eyck Trophy (team points)
1, Washington 285; 2, Harvard 279; 3, California 244; 12, Stanford 148.
Lineups
1V8+
C: Gabrielle Zammit
8: Tom Corbett
7: Elliott Donovan-Davies
6: James Fetter
5: Luke Smith
4: Max Shakespeare
3: Adrien Richez
2: Gabriel George
1: James Pullinger
2V8+
C: Kannan Alford
8: Arthur Scott
7: Hylton Harvey
6: Maxim Ericson
5: Sandro Scalfi
4: Caspar Griffin
3: Callen Berwick
2: Leopold Hainlein
1: Philip Wolfensberger