COOPER RIVER, CAMDEN, N.J. — 

Last weekend, the Coast Guard Academy men's rowing team raced the in the 4+ event in the IRA Championships. The program earned the qualifying spot in the V8 for non-conference Division III teams based on their performances during the regular season but chose to race the 4+ due to team members being unavailable due to summer assignments and training.

Seniors and rising sophomore members of the team trained in New London between the National Invitational Rowing Championship and IRAs. "We made the most of the two weeks by rowing in pairs; a double; and then the four. We made final boat selections and hit the road to New Jersey on Thursday morning," said head coach Bill Randall on the pre-championship process. "After a quick course survey and race walkthrough on Thursday afternoon, we were ready for racing."

On Friday morning, the Coast Guard joined a field of 39 boats in a time trial that would be used to determine the seeding for each semifinal. The Bears put forth a solid showing but finished five seconds outside the top 18 in 24th place, missing out on the required placement to advance to the top semifinals but finishing ahead of ahead of all other D-III schools.

Friday afternoon had the Bears in the second of two DE semifinals racing with Boston University, Colgate, Williams, Tufts, and Holy Cross. The team had an excellent start to the race, with the announcer even describing it as "blinding" in his English accent. They utilized a strong sprint to overtake Colgate and finish second to BU, earning a spot in the D final.

Storms on Friday night caused a four hour delay and ushered in a very strong tailwind for Saturday's racing. The final pitted Coast Guard against BU, Northeastern, Colgate, Wisconsin, and Loyola — a tough field for the Bears. The crew was unable to execute their race plan and ended up fifth in the final and 23rd overall. In the words of the team's stroke, Ben Dush (Henderson, Nev.): "We had two great starts in both the semis and finals, but ultimately the conditions in the finals caused us to waiver against experienced Division I schools."

Bears men's rowing looks forward to getting back on the water in August for the fall season.

RESULTS

LINEUP

C — Brent Fournier (Bedford, N.H.)

4 — Benjamin Dush

3 — Jonah McFarland (Seattle, Wash.)

2 — Damian Olechowski (Brighton, Mass.)

1 — Lucas Guerra (Charlottesville, Va.)

SPARES

Maddox Holmes-Shelby (San Clemente, CA)