Lightweight women's four heat: https://www.youtube.com/live/qdpgQxmvrzY...hare&t=806
Lightweight women's eight heat: https://www.youtube.com/live/qdpgQxmvrzY...are&t=1233
Men's varsity eight A/B semifinal: https://www.youtube.com/live/qdpgQxmvrzY...are&t=2114
Men's second varsity eight C/D semifinal: https://www.youtube.com/live/qdpgQxmvrzY...are&t=5500
Men's varsity four fourth-level final: https://www.youtube.com/live/qdpgQxmvrzY...re&t=10305
In the lightweight women's events, the broadcast wasn't able to catch the start of these races since the previous race took more than eight minutes. Today's race schedule was compressed to eight minute centers (races starting every eight minutes) in order to minimize the chances of forecasted weather affecting the rest of the schedule.
In the Stanford's first race of the day, the lightweight women's four raced for lanes against six other boats (yes, seven total crews in this race) and came away with fourth place, pushing just a little bit harder to nip Wisconsin and Boston University at the line while crossing after Princeton, MIT, and Georgetown in that order. Princeton took a dominant lead from the start and finished about 12.9 seconds ahead of Stanford, which is pretty significant. Stanford will race the grand final tomorrow at 8:08am ET.
The lightweight women's eight took a more aggressive approach in their heat (also a race for lanes), striding out to a steady second place behind Princeton while Georgetown raced through a fading Boston University to take third. In a race for lanes, one can imagine Boston University firing up their engines for a good first thousand meters before shutting it down in the second half of the race, thus saving their legs for tomorrow. But...who knows? Stanford races the grand final tomorrow at 9:36am ET.
The Stanford men's varsity eight raced to fifth place in their semifinal against Princeton, Yale, Syracuse, Brown, and Cornell. There were two stories in this race: first, Princeton beating Yale was a little unexpected given Yale's pedigree. However, Princeton has been hot this season, and a lot of Tiger fans are feeling pretty confident after being edged out of the grand final last year by Brown. The second story of the race was Syracuse beating Brown, which continues Syracuse's ascent in recent years and also means Brown didn't make the grand final this year after making it last year. Stanford found themselves out of the race for the third and last qualifying spot but did not give up or let up. They will race in the petite final tomorrow at 10:00am ET. Their goal should be to beat one or more of Harvard, Brown, or Dartmouth, as well as Penn and Cornell.
The second varsity eight raced their semifinal at 8:58am after a grueling repechage yesterday afternoon, and I don't know if they were recovered, but they made it look easy. They had just over a length lead on a tight pack at 500m (UCSD, Drexel, Georgetown, and Santa Clara with not more than four seats between front and back of the pack). Stanford pushed out to about a six seat advantage at the finish line, just comfortably ahead of a three-way fight for two qualifying spots behind them (UCSD and Drexel advanced about two lengths ahead of Georgetown). The second varsity will race in the third-level semifinal tomorrow at 8:32am ET, where they face La Salle, UCSD, Wisconsin, Navy, and Drexel. I think Stanford is favored here, as they beat Wisconsin by 4.1 seconds during the regular season, but I know that crew would have been competitive in the petite final if not for 0.322 seconds yesterday.
In Stanford's last race of the day, the men's varsity four raced in the fourth-level final against San Diego (USD Toreros), Penn, Fairfield, Marist, and Cornell. The men's varsity four event often sees entries from smaller programs who don't qualify a heavyweight men's varsity eight at the IRA, so we often see the top four athletes from smaller programs matching up against some combination of four athletes from better-known programs. Traditionally, programs will favor the eights over the four, so you would be expecting the #17-20 athletes or the #21-24 athletes from most programs. But you could see the #9-12 athletes from a smaller program that only fields an eight and a four.
Anyway, San Diego (coached by Stanford alum Bart Thompson '12) from lane one punched out to an early length lead in this race followed by Penn next to them, Fairfield, and all the way across the course in lane seven, Stanford. Though San Diego eventually broke free and had open water behind them, Stanford hung on about a length down from a virtual tie for second place between Penn and Fairfield during the body of the race. Coming into the last 500m, Penn shook off Fairfield for a clear second place finish behind San Diego, and Stanford followed Fairfield about 3.2 second behind for fourth place. The Stanford varsity four concludes their regatta having placed 22nd overall, and I think that is a fine finish for them, having outperformed their seeding.
Looking forward:
The lightweight women need a statement win for the season after being just a bit slower than expected, but it is Princeton's races in all three events to lose at this point.
The men's varsity had an outside shot at cracking the grand final, but Northeastern took a big step forward. Although Stanford made it to the A/B semifinal, beating Syracuse was too tall of an order for a crew that raced an afternoon repechage less than 24 hrs earlier. Being only 4.3 second off of kal in single-race regattas this season was great, but the IRA is a multi-day regatta with multiple races, and that kind of fitness/mental toughness is hard to assess from single races. Even 4.3 seconds back from kal in the other semifinal wouldn't have qualified Stanford for the grands--Northeastern was only 3.4 sec back from kal. Harvard was 4.368 sec back from kal in that semifinal, so perhaps Stanford and Harvard will find themselves evenly matched tomorrow.
The men's second varsity redeemed themselves with a win today and will need to win tomorrow's third-level final if they want a moral victory. Conditions between the third- and second-level finals will change drastically given the 96 minutes between the two races, so they won't even get a chance to compare times. Good hunting tomorrow, gentlemen.
Go Stanford!
Lightweight women's eight heat: https://www.youtube.com/live/qdpgQxmvrzY...are&t=1233
Men's varsity eight A/B semifinal: https://www.youtube.com/live/qdpgQxmvrzY...are&t=2114
Men's second varsity eight C/D semifinal: https://www.youtube.com/live/qdpgQxmvrzY...are&t=5500
Men's varsity four fourth-level final: https://www.youtube.com/live/qdpgQxmvrzY...re&t=10305
In the lightweight women's events, the broadcast wasn't able to catch the start of these races since the previous race took more than eight minutes. Today's race schedule was compressed to eight minute centers (races starting every eight minutes) in order to minimize the chances of forecasted weather affecting the rest of the schedule.
In the Stanford's first race of the day, the lightweight women's four raced for lanes against six other boats (yes, seven total crews in this race) and came away with fourth place, pushing just a little bit harder to nip Wisconsin and Boston University at the line while crossing after Princeton, MIT, and Georgetown in that order. Princeton took a dominant lead from the start and finished about 12.9 seconds ahead of Stanford, which is pretty significant. Stanford will race the grand final tomorrow at 8:08am ET.
The lightweight women's eight took a more aggressive approach in their heat (also a race for lanes), striding out to a steady second place behind Princeton while Georgetown raced through a fading Boston University to take third. In a race for lanes, one can imagine Boston University firing up their engines for a good first thousand meters before shutting it down in the second half of the race, thus saving their legs for tomorrow. But...who knows? Stanford races the grand final tomorrow at 9:36am ET.
The Stanford men's varsity eight raced to fifth place in their semifinal against Princeton, Yale, Syracuse, Brown, and Cornell. There were two stories in this race: first, Princeton beating Yale was a little unexpected given Yale's pedigree. However, Princeton has been hot this season, and a lot of Tiger fans are feeling pretty confident after being edged out of the grand final last year by Brown. The second story of the race was Syracuse beating Brown, which continues Syracuse's ascent in recent years and also means Brown didn't make the grand final this year after making it last year. Stanford found themselves out of the race for the third and last qualifying spot but did not give up or let up. They will race in the petite final tomorrow at 10:00am ET. Their goal should be to beat one or more of Harvard, Brown, or Dartmouth, as well as Penn and Cornell.
The second varsity eight raced their semifinal at 8:58am after a grueling repechage yesterday afternoon, and I don't know if they were recovered, but they made it look easy. They had just over a length lead on a tight pack at 500m (UCSD, Drexel, Georgetown, and Santa Clara with not more than four seats between front and back of the pack). Stanford pushed out to about a six seat advantage at the finish line, just comfortably ahead of a three-way fight for two qualifying spots behind them (UCSD and Drexel advanced about two lengths ahead of Georgetown). The second varsity will race in the third-level semifinal tomorrow at 8:32am ET, where they face La Salle, UCSD, Wisconsin, Navy, and Drexel. I think Stanford is favored here, as they beat Wisconsin by 4.1 seconds during the regular season, but I know that crew would have been competitive in the petite final if not for 0.322 seconds yesterday.
In Stanford's last race of the day, the men's varsity four raced in the fourth-level final against San Diego (USD Toreros), Penn, Fairfield, Marist, and Cornell. The men's varsity four event often sees entries from smaller programs who don't qualify a heavyweight men's varsity eight at the IRA, so we often see the top four athletes from smaller programs matching up against some combination of four athletes from better-known programs. Traditionally, programs will favor the eights over the four, so you would be expecting the #17-20 athletes or the #21-24 athletes from most programs. But you could see the #9-12 athletes from a smaller program that only fields an eight and a four.
Anyway, San Diego (coached by Stanford alum Bart Thompson '12) from lane one punched out to an early length lead in this race followed by Penn next to them, Fairfield, and all the way across the course in lane seven, Stanford. Though San Diego eventually broke free and had open water behind them, Stanford hung on about a length down from a virtual tie for second place between Penn and Fairfield during the body of the race. Coming into the last 500m, Penn shook off Fairfield for a clear second place finish behind San Diego, and Stanford followed Fairfield about 3.2 second behind for fourth place. The Stanford varsity four concludes their regatta having placed 22nd overall, and I think that is a fine finish for them, having outperformed their seeding.
Looking forward:
The lightweight women need a statement win for the season after being just a bit slower than expected, but it is Princeton's races in all three events to lose at this point.
The men's varsity had an outside shot at cracking the grand final, but Northeastern took a big step forward. Although Stanford made it to the A/B semifinal, beating Syracuse was too tall of an order for a crew that raced an afternoon repechage less than 24 hrs earlier. Being only 4.3 second off of kal in single-race regattas this season was great, but the IRA is a multi-day regatta with multiple races, and that kind of fitness/mental toughness is hard to assess from single races. Even 4.3 seconds back from kal in the other semifinal wouldn't have qualified Stanford for the grands--Northeastern was only 3.4 sec back from kal. Harvard was 4.368 sec back from kal in that semifinal, so perhaps Stanford and Harvard will find themselves evenly matched tomorrow.
The men's second varsity redeemed themselves with a win today and will need to win tomorrow's third-level final if they want a moral victory. Conditions between the third- and second-level finals will change drastically given the 96 minutes between the two races, so they won't even get a chance to compare times. Good hunting tomorrow, gentlemen.
Go Stanford!