University of Washington Sweeps IRA Championships

June 02, 2012

CAMDEN, N.J. – The University of Washington heads back to Seattle champions in every event it entered at the 2012 Intercollegiate Rowing Association on the Cooper River in Camden, New Jersey. The Huskies also won a record sixth-consecutive Ten Eyck Trophy for overall team points, tallying 195 points to Harvard University’s 184 and University of California’s 173 points.

Washington defended its titles in the men’s varsity eight and men’s open four. For the fourth-consecutive year, the Huskies dominated the second varsity eight. The team also took home its third Eric W. Will Trophy after winning the men’s varsity four. This year, Washington added the men’s freshman eight to the list of victories.

In the men’s varsity eight, Washington crossed the line six seats ahead of the second place crew to take gold. Defending champion in the varsity eight, the Huskies won the 2012 IRA title with a time of 5:21.48. With the help of a strong tail wind the crew beat the overall course record of 5:23.60, set by University of California in 1999, by 2.12 seconds. In a much-anticipated match up, Brown University and Harvard University battled for second place throughout the race. It was Brown that eventually finished 1.182 seconds ahead of Harvard for silver.

“This means so much. I was in the JV last year and watched the varsity win. Coming into the race and having to defend that made this so important,” said stoke seat of Washington’s varsity eight Dusan Milvanovic. “After having the fastest times in the heat and the semis, people were saying it was ours to lose.”

Describing the race experience, Milvanovic said, “it’s literally instinct; we’ve trained so much. It is about having trust in your guys and your coxswain. Knowing that he will make all the right decisions.”

The University of Washington crossed the finish line in the men’s second varsity eight by a boat length of open water. In a tight race for the remainder of the field, Brown crossed the finish line in 5:33.872 for second and California took third.
In the last fifteen strokes of the race, the varsity four from the University of Washington dug in and took first in a time of 6:12.258. Cal came in a close second after holding off Washington for most of the last 500 meters.

In a protested race, Washington dominated the freshman eight final finishing with open water in 5:31.616. Brown and Harvard battled each other for second and third, much like the varsity eight race. Brown came out ahead.

Stanford took the stage with a win the lightweight women’s eight. The two-time defending champions crossed the finish line in 6:31.141.

“We have six seniors on our team. We had a great regatta and I am really happy for the seniors to go out on this race. All six of them were really critical to keeping our team going, whether they were in the first eight that won three national championships in a row, or the three in the four. They have really pushed the team everyday,” said Stanford coach Al Acosta.

The Harvard lightweight varsity eight completed a perfect collegiate season with the program's eighth national championship, winning the grand final in course-record time on the Cooper River. The Crimson held off Dartmouth by nearly a second and beat the IRA men's lightweight course record by three seconds with a time of 5:33.059.

“I thought it was our best piece because we stayed right with the fastest boats in the first 300 meters, and at the 500 we knew we had to assert ourselves, not just for 20 strokes, but for an entire 1,000 or 1,200 meters," said Harvard coach Charlie Butt. "And they did just that. I was quite happy to see them get enough distance on very dangerous Dartmouth, Yale and Princeton boats and Georgetown, enough that in the end we didn’t have to have a desperation sprint.

“Dartmouth came at the very end, like I thought they would. It’s nice when things work out, because they don’t always. I was very happy that things played out the way that they did.”

Results highlights are listed below. For a PDF of complete event results, click here.

Men’s first varsity eight
1. Washington, 5:21.482; 2. Brown, 5:23.476; 3. Harvard, 5:24.658; 4. California, 5:29.497; 5. Syracuse, 5:32.86; 6. BU, 6:34.888

Men’s second varsity eight
1. Washington, 5:31.616; 2. Brown, 5:33.872; 3. Harvard, 5:35.264; 4. California, 5:35.477; 5. Wisconsin, 5:35.938; 6. Stanford, 5:54.096

Men’s freshman eight
1. Washington, 5:31.902; 2. California, 5:35.659; 3. Northeastern, 5:43.629; 4. Cornell, 5:45.817; 5. Harvard, 5:46.381; 6. Brown, 5:52.331

Men’s varsity four
1. Washington, 6:12.258; 2. California, 6:14.098; 3. Brown, 6:21.372; 4. Northeastern, 6:26.643; 5. Georgetown, 6:29.823, 6. Navy, 6:36.268

Men’s open four
1. Washington, 6:15.257; 2. Wisconsin 6:17.344; 3. California 6:20.029; 4. Harvard 6:25.176; 5. Brown 6:27.851; 6. Navy 6:36.954

Women’s lightweight varsity eight
1. Stanford, 6:31.141; 2. Bucknell, 6:33.736; 3. Radcliff, 6:35.479; 4. Wisconsin, 6:36.636; 5. Princeton, 6:47.108; 6. Georgetown, 6:50.789

Women’s lightweight varsity four
1. Wisconsin, 7:14.633; 2. Stanford, 7:19.463; 3. SUNY Buffalo, 7:25.444; 4. Radcliff, 7:34.689; 5. Princeton, 7:47.025; 6. Georgetown, 8:06.418

Men’s lightweight eight
1. Harvard, 5:33.059; 2. Dartmouth, 5:34.035; 3. Yale, 5:36.671;  4. Georgetown, 5:37.966; 5. Cornell, 5:42.397; 6. Princeton, 5:43.258; 7. Colombia, 5:47.795

Men’s lightweight four
1. Navy, 6:18.126; 2. Cornell, 6:20.519; 3. Wisconsin, 6:21.931; 4. Yale, 6:25.215; 5. Harvard, 6:25.759; 6. MIT, 6:28.804

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Monica Worsley, USRowing Communications Intern

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