2023 Season

[Remomex]

Wow Yale shut out of the medals.

Nice race by Cal , hard to believe the stroke seat was a transfer from Brown by the announcer.

Not quite right. The Brown stroke seat from last year was in 3 seat of the Cal boat.

Nice to see UW push Cal and make it a much closer race than I think most (or at least I) expected. Yale didn't have a great regatta across boat classes. Hard to maintain that level of dominance but surely that's gotta hurt for Gladstone's send-off.

[GlassAtSunrise]

Quite happy to see Princeton crack into the medals for some excitement, certainly rough for Gladstone. NU just happy to be there.

[matt1984]

Wow Yale shut out of the medals.

Nice race by Cal , hard to believe the stroke seat was a transfer from Brown by the announcer.

Not quite right. The Brown stroke seat from last year was in 3 seat of the Cal boat.

Interesting to see the impact of increased eligibility years due to COVID. I think Fred said this rower is in graduate school at Cal. I'll guess the average age of those in the finals is up. It was pretty graphic in Track & Field this year - many records broken. I suspect this will have impact for the next several years with potential for 25 year old seniors.

[Remomex]

Not only the covid years but also the ease of transferring. This is probably the deepest and fastest the field will ever be.

[FriarsRowing]

Its good to see coaches changing up how they coach their crews and learning what they haven't done well. This is the best I've ever seen Princeton Heavyweight crews row ever. Brown rowing so much better. Syracuse rowing super well. Cal was a master class. Washington even rowing a little longer. A lot of coaches learning and getting better.

Hot take: I think a lot of people are fortunate to learn from Gladstone. I think it showed this weekend.

[lt.wolf]

Picture sent in


Cal thanks everyone for a great 2023 season

[3V1x]

Here are some comments and observations after some great semis:
- 3rd time is a charm with Princeton finally getting Yale this season. Can they win it, will they even medal, does that wake up Yale for the Grand?
- NE has to feel great sending two local rivals (Harvard and Brown) to the petites
- The cross headwind for Semis 1 and 2 were unfortunate - there isn't 32 seconds between Cal and Penn. Fair conditions could have resulted in different outcomes. No excuses for those who lost, but the racing would have been better in dead conditions or a straight tail/head. There are better courses (on average more fair condition days) this weekend of the year. Why isn't the IRA held on one of them? I would guess that over the last 10 years 75% of the IRA V8 Heats, Semis, and Finals have been rowed in redrawn lanes due to wind conditions. That sends a clear message to me - CHANGE THE VENUE!
- Columbia V8 got away with one to make the 3rd level final after sandbagging the heat and rep. They got lucky the wind shifted to a straight head by the time of their semi.
- Georgetown really underperformed to end up in the 4th level final after their Sprints finish (while Penn is in the Petite).
- LaSalle - wow!

Given Georgetown’s performance in the 4 it’s possible that was the priority boat and the V8 wasn’t the same crew they boated at Sprints.

[str8four]

Final IRA comments
- Happy to see fair racing conditions in the finals
- Congrats to Cal for a dominant performance.
- Congrats to UW for demonstrating their strength and depth as well
- Congrats to UCSD. Yes it was for 19th but certainly a step in the right direction at a school that has a lot going for it.
- Has anyone done the math on the foreign athletes in the Grand?
- Columbia sandbagged their heat and rep - if I am a Karen for noticing that they were DFL and 15s behind Drexel in their heat (only to beat Drexel in the Semi) and DFL and 3s behind Colgate in their rep (only to beat them by 6s in the Semi), then Karen is sometimes an observant person.
- Congrats to Princeton (overall) with strong performances from the Heavys, Lights, and LW Women.
- I am hoping that this COVID extended eligibility thing dies soon. It is gasoline on the fire of hollowing out the middle of the performance curve. We are seeing things really competitive at the top (with transfers and 24 year old grad students) and at the bottom (with normal well-coached teams that are trying to develop vs buy talent), but there is very little in between (unless you are including the 2V and 3V eights from the top schools). IF the announcers were right and Yale had an Olympic Gold Medalist in their 2V, there is something broken with the sport.

[socalstroke]

Given Georgetown’s performance in the 4 it’s possible that was the priority boat and the V8 wasn’t the same crew they boated at Sprints.

same guys

- Columbia sandbagged their heat and rep - if I am a Karen for noticing that they were DFL and 15s behind Drexel in their heat (only to beat Drexel in the Semi) and DFL and 3s behind Colgate in their rep (only to beat them by 6s in the Semi), then Karen is sometimes an observant person.

doubtful. as was already pointed out, splits tell you all you need to know

- I am hoping that this COVID extended eligibility thing dies soon. It is gasoline on the fire of hollowing out the middle of the performance curve. We are seeing things really competitive at the top (with transfers and 24 year old grad students) and at the bottom (with normal well-coached teams that are trying to develop vs buy talent), but there is very little in between (unless you are including the 2V and 3V eights from the top schools). IF the announcers were right and Yale had an Olympic Gold Medalist in their 2V, there is something broken with the sport.

think there is one more year of covid athletes to go. Some programs will have several.

Williamson is coming back from injury. Gold medal or not, hard to slot in after missing the entire season.

How serious is the IRA about developing other venues? In passing Dexter and Sarasota have been mentioned. At a minimum, someone at the IRA needs to learn to read a weather forecast. After all the issues at Mercer you would think the contingencies would be planned out better. There was no need to trim the schedule.

[FullSend]

Kind of crazy that Pton gets 3rd in the 1V and that's the only GF they have made. I've thought for awhile it feels like they have tighter margins with athletes (maybe fewer admissions spots, less preference). For my money, their 1V was the best technical crew out there this week (and really all season). Doesn't feel like they have the raw talent that Yale has, but raced them tough all year and made it happen when it mattered most.

[augustus]

If you are harvard, what are you doing now? I don't think they can complain about talent with multiple U23 gold medalists. At what point do the athletic department/alums force change at the top?

[rowing]

- Columbia sandbagged their heat and rep - if I am a Karen for noticing that they were DFL and 15s behind Drexel in their heat (only to beat Drexel in the Semi) and DFL and 3s behind Colgate in their rep (only to beat them by 6s in the Semi), then Karen is sometimes an observant person.

doubtful. as was already pointed out, splits tell you all you need to know

Let's call it stratebagging!

Progressions are full of good thinks. Racing four 2Ks isn't all brawn.

Nothing that couldn't be fixed with a Thursday time trial where the bottom six go directly to the D final.

[rowingtech09]

If you are harvard, what are you doing now? I don't think they can complain about talent with multiple U23 gold medalists. At what point do the athletic department/alums force change at the top?

Last year and this year aren't a great look, but pre-COVID things were about average by historical standards in terms of IRA results so I'd give it a bit more time. The real difference has been Yale's dominance under Gladstone. Worth bearing in mind that Harry had some bad years too.

[asdad123]

Weren't people saying the same thing about princeton not too long ago?

[haveoarwillrow]

RE Harvard, it could be interesting to see how LaPage would do, he would have to be the front-runner if Charlie stepped down/got pushed out. I can't see a world yet with Manning coming back, I think that boat has long shoved off. This call for Charlie seems to be coming up more frequently in the aftermath of COVID, but it is hard to see who Harvard would want to plug in.

Playing devil's advocate, there are a few coaches that you could make a similar argument for if you had the axe to grind:
-Dave Reischman - great the past 3 seasons, but this team's results have had some serious variance going up and down the ladder
-Greg Hughes - similar to Syracuse, just less of floor and more of a ceiling
-Todd Kennett - could argue he's still cashing in on the '10 medal if you were feeling petty
-Tom Bohrer - consistent Petites
-Chris Clark - appears to have the horses if you believe the press conferences
-Paul Cook - I don't see how a guy producing multiple athletes for the USNT gets a pass without getting to the medal dock (again, playing devil's advocate here).

On the other hand, I also guarantee you could make a case for keeping every one of those coaches in their current spot. I don't have a horse in any of these races, just adding an observation and stirring the pot when Harvard is being brought up. If the Crimson are not living up to the standard of the boathouse, sure, it's on the powers that be to go about what they think is right.

There's been a lot more parity lately and it's exciting to keep seeing the speed increase in PF and 3F. At the same time you've had outstanding and sheer dominance from some crews like UW, Cal, and Yale.