Heavyweight Men Wrap Up Season at IRA
The heavyweight men's varsity eight finished 22nd at this year's IRA regatta which wrapped up June 5 in Camden, New Jersey. Fast racing, intense competition, and crews on top of their games was the order of the day as Georgetown finished higher than their place in the polls had been for most of the season. The final was affected by strong cross headwinds that caused officials to change all subsequent races to seed the lanes with 5 and 6 being least affected by the winds and lanes 1 and 2 the worst.
Over the course of the regatta, the Georgetown crew put together several decent pieces but never felt like they put out a piece as strong as they had hoped or showed the same speed they had achieved during their dual race with Yale where they finished 2.4 seconds off the Elis. Yale finished 7th overall at the IRA.
In the men's varsity 4 event, the crew consisting of 4 rowers from the second eight finished 16th out of 24 with close racing through its heats, repechages, semis and finals. The Georgetown crew did well competing against many schools who raced only their top four rowers. For example, Michigan boated two rowers who have pulled sub 6 minute 2K pieces including this year's CRASH B collegiate champion.
The men's freshman eight, making an appearance at the IRA for the first time since 2001, finished 17th overall. While not racing as well as hoped for in the final, the young Hoyas were still able to defeat Wisconsin, Coach Greg Myhr's former school.
The best finish of the heavyweight entries came from the men's open four who raced to a 9th place finish overall racing in the petite finals. The boat consisted of three freshmen from the 2nd novice eight and stroked by captain elect Drew Bradylyons who stroked the 2nd varsity eight this season
Overall Georgetown finished 19th in the Ten Eyck points trophy standings, aided by the lightweight entries in the pair and freshman four events, up from 25th last year which is a measure of overall success for a program.
The team will be challenged to improve again next year as the program graduated 10 rowers from this year’s squad. The crew will look to the freshman class and the four returning varsity eight rowers and captain elect Bradylyons to fill the void left by the class.
Class of 2004
1st Varsity Eight:
Robert McLane- 6 seat
Andrew Brown- 5 seat
Eric Hilmo- 2 seat
Timothy Lepczyk- bow seat
2nd Varsity Eight/Other
Jack Newcombe- capt.
Patrick King
Eric Pohlman
Thomas Farnoly
Ryan Schafer
Robert Fritz
