Trojan Navy finishes in Nations Top 10 in Four-man Events

JUNE 5, 2004

CHERRY HILL, NJ: USC completed a solid campaign at the IRA National Rowing Championships, finishing 5th in the Freshman Fours event and 10th in the Varsity Coxless Fours event on Sunday. Harvard won the men’s varsity eights race ahead of Washington, California, Navy Princeton and Dartmouth.

Both USC crews were disappointed with their results but benefited from the experience that only the competition of the IRAs can offer.

USC won silver in the Freshman Four event at the 2003 IRA and it was widely believed that this season’s crew had what was needed to win the Trojan Navy’s first national championship since 1975.

The Freshman Crew began the regatta in dominant form, winning its heat by almost seven seconds ahead of Navy, North Carolina, St. Josephs, Wisconsin and Loyola.

Proceeding directly to the semi-finals, USC won in a tight finish, just .25 seconds ahead of Harvard, but well ahead of Brown, Navy, Wisconsin and St. Josephs.

USC appeared well positioned to win the grand final and led the field by up to a boat-length in the first 1000m. With just 500m to go Harvard made a strong move as did George Washington University and the Trojans were now battling for a medal of any color.

Disaster in the form of a near boat-stopping crab struck USC in the final stages of the race and the Trojans finished 5th. Although disappointing, the result is still one of the highest finishes by a Trojan Crew at the IRA.

USC struggled with the distance in the Varsity Coxless Fours event. In each race the Trojans were in the top two places with 500m to go only to fade or suffer steering problems in the final stages.

“It wasn’t like we veered across the course, it was more just lots of small steering corrections that cost us,” said crew senior Danny Friedman. The Crew finished fourth in its heat and then faced sudden death by having to win its race in the repechage round.

Unfortunately for the Trojans they drew Colgate in the repechage and lost by a boat-length. Colgate went on to win the national championship.

FULL RESULTS