While the DI ranking remained relatively consistent, DII and DIII both saw some significant shakeups at the top in this week’s Pocock CRCA Coaches Poll. Embry-Riddle, on the strength of their performance at last weekend’s Knecht Cup, jumped from fifth to second in the DII poll while Wesleyan dropped from first to third in the DIII poll after losing to #1 Tufts, formerly ranked #2.

The IRCA/IRA Coaches Poll – Week 2 has been released, with Harvard holding on to the top spot in the both the DI Heavyweight and Lightweight Varsity Eight polls, while Wesleyan still sits atop the DIII rankings.

Rowing is a beautiful, elegantly simple sport: The first boat across the line wins. There are no judged points, no time-outs, and no substitutions. We race to win, with no room for debate about the result, which is decided on the water.

Off the water, coaches should leave plenty of room for debate, especially regarding non-rowing matters. A coach is a teacher, and most rowers are student-athletes. Our sport is but one part of a person’s development as a member of society, and as Madeline Davis Tully points out in her Coaching Development column on page 63, coaches should create a welcoming environment for rowers of all kinds by not taking a stand on the social issues that have distracted so many in our sport from the actual rowing over the past few years.

Now–spring and summer–is when our races matter, when the trophies are awarded, and when championships are determined, by racing and by crossing the line first.

A lot goes in to the roughly 260 strokes it takes to cover the 2,000 meters of these victories and championships. Hours of training over the four years of a school career—or the eight or more years of an Olympic journey—are behind each and every stroke of a six-minute race.

Only one crew gets to be the best at the final regatta, and what all the best have in common are three keys to success: great athletes guided by great coaches with great organizational support. In this issue, we feature two programs, one at each end of the years-long process of harnessing those elements to develop successful crews.

Deerfield Academy, a school as old as our country, found immediate success switching from racing in coxed fours to eights last year, but it came after years of building.

This year, on the NCAA Division I level, UCF is beginning the process, putting great organizational support behind a great coach, Mara Allen, in her first year of developing great athletes in Orlando.

Also this year, as pictured and explained in Big News, beginning on page 25, great U.S. athletes have won the opportunity to race against the world’s best rowers coached by great coaches with great organizational support at this summer’s Olympics and Paralympics in Paris.

CHERRY HILL, N.J. – The top two varsity eight boats earned gold medals and put together dominant performances for the La Salle men’s rowing team at Knecht Cup on Sunday. Each of the two crews earned victories in their semifinal races and cruised to wins in the grand finals.

The gold medals were the first in the eight categories in program history, and marked the second straight year the Explorers have medaled in the varsity 8 and second varsity 8 (bronze in 2023).

Additionally, Emily Perry competed in the women’s single competition and earned silver for the Explorers.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Perry took to the water early on Sunday, and crossed in a time of 9:12.08, just 3.65 seconds behind Dominican’s single to earn silver.
• Later in the morning, the second varsity eight rowed out of lane six and cruised to a win by nearly 10 seconds ahead of Michigan to move into the grand final.
• The top varsity boat, who entered Sunday ranked 18th in the country, faced Trinity in the semifinal round and defeated that crew by nearly five seconds.
• Trinity entered the weekend as the No. 2 nationally ranked team in Division II/III, according to the IRA/IRCA.
• The 2V8 race was delayed due to equipment malfunction, putting the first varsity in position to earn the day’s first medal.
• The top squad, coxed by graduate student Trevor Fawcett, did not disappoint and earned a victory over No. 23 Temple, No. 24 Colgate, and Trinity.
• In the final race of the day, the 2V8 jumped out to a big lead and did not look back as it once again won by nearly five seconds, defeating Trinity and Embry-Riddle.
• The varsity four participated in a straight final, finishing fourth and narrowly out of medal contention.

RESULTS
Second Varsity 8 – Heat 2

1. La Salle – 6:00.90
2. Michigan – 6:10.38
3. Marist A – 6:11.03

Varsity 8 – Heat 1

1. La Salle – 5:52.13
2. Trinity – 5:56.89
3. Stetson – 6:00.31

Varsity 4 – Heat 2 (Two Final Rounds)

1. Temple A – 6:40.79
2. Oklahoma City – 6:50.00
3. La Salle – 6:52.41

Varsity 8 – Final

1. La Salle – 5:56.39
2. Temple – 5:58.18
3. Trinity – 5:58.30

Second Varsity 8 – Final

1. La Salle – 6:01.95
2. Trinity – 6:06.48
3. Embry-Riddle – 6:06.57

Platt Cup: In the closest lightweight men’s race of the season thus far, #2 Princeton defeated #3 Cornell to reclain the Platt Cup for the fist time since 2018. Though the Big Red won the 2V and 3V races, the Tigers came through where it counted, winning the V8 race by just 1.2 seconds. Race details here.

The Tigers take home the Platt Cup!!!

💻- https://t.co/SGQ30Brwu9
💻- https://t.co/VcGjZwi9GA – Int. pic.twitter.com/1kJF2cQ34u

— Princeton Lights (@TigerLights) April 13, 2024

UVA Invite: The #1 Stanford, #4 Cal, #5 Yale, #11 Virginia, and #17 Oregon State women battled across two days of racing on Lake Monticello this past weekend. Both Stanford and Cal came away from the weekend undefeated, though the Pac-12 rivals did not race each other directly. While the Bears defeated the Cavaliers by 10 seconds in the V8 on Sunday, the Cardinal defeated the same crew on Saturday by an impressive 17 seconds. UVA head coach Kevin Sauer told UVA Athletics, “Stanford seems to be one of the fastest in the country right now.” Full results here.

📹 from today's UVA Invite at Lake Monticello! 🔶⚔️🔷 #GoHoos pic.twitter.com/9fzMe88TpM

— Virginia Rowing (@UVARowing) April 14, 2024

Mercer Invite: Sunday saw top junior crews from across the Mid-Atlantic region, and beyond, take to Lake Mercer for the Mercer Invitational. On the women’s side, Greenwich came away with the win in the 1V8+ race but were pushed by Saugatuck who finished only 4 seconds behind. This is a big turnaround from the last time these crews raced at the 2023 Youth Nationals where Greewich beat Saugatuck by nearly 20 seconds in the semifinal, sending Saugatuck to the B final and advancing to second place in the A final. On the men’s side, Greenwich defeated St. Joe’s Prep by three seconds, an identical margin to the one that separated these two crews at last year’s Youth Nationals in the B final. Full results here.

#2 Tufts Women defeat #1 Wesleyan: On Saturday, just outside of Boston, the #2 Tufts women defeated top-ranked Wesleyan, #4 Bates, and #5 Wellesley, the defending DIII National Champions. The Jumbos completed the clean sweep, defeating all opponents in the first, second, third, fourth, and fifth varsity eights. More race details can be found here.