Men's Rowing Matches Best Ever Finish at IRA Nationals

Friday, May 31

Lake Mercer / West Windsor, N.J.

All-Day

Drexel University

IRA National Championships

Men's Rowing Matches Best Ever Finish at IRA Nationals

6/2/2024 2:01:00 PM | Men's Rowing

PRINCETON, N.J. - The Drexel men's rowing team tied its all-time best finish of 15th overall at the IRA National Championships Sunday morning on Mercer Lake. The Dragons had two boats place in the top-16 nationally, with all boats beating or matching their ranking coming into the races.

The Varsity 8+ team of Chloe Minicucci (Coxswain), Josh Diggons (Stroke), Nikola Loncar, Jack Anderson, Damian Lis, James Schmidt, Andrew Manns, John Little and Andrei Malis (Bow), in Lois Krall III finished in fourth place in the Third Final with a time of 5:49.049. DU fought alongside the boats of La Salle and Georgetown throughout the race, edging the Explorers by a second at the line.

The Third Varsity 8+ boat turned in the best performance of the event for the Dragons, tying a best ever finish of 14th. Rowing in Sandra Lee Sheller II, Matt Sherman (Coxswain), Charlie Fortner (Stroke), Daniel Yurcisin, Matthew Kennedy, Nick Foley, Marawan Mohamed, Jono Andersson, Collin Gross and Dearon Tufankjian finished the Third Final in second place, crossing the line at 5:59.613.

Drexel got off to a hot start out of the gates, maintaining the second place spot throughout the race. The Dragons pulled away from third place late, beating the nationally ranked teams of Navy, Oregon State, Georgetown, Santa Clara and UC San Diego.

The 2nd Varsity 8+ team rowing in Lois Krall II also advanced to the Third Final. Alex Dragovits (Coxswain), Nemanja Sajatovic (Stroke), Quinn Cooney, Zoran Bosnic, Michael Pazderski, Roman Smigiel, Richmond Coney, Sam Valigorsky and Zach Key finished 18th overall, coming home with a time of 6:03.693.

The Varsity 4+ boat competed in the Third Final on Saturday afternoon in Go Roe. Charlotte Bentrim (Coxswain), Willem Kirsch (Stroke), Maxwell Frey, Milo Epstein and Samuel Lozek (Bow) finished with a time of 6:42.379.

"I am proud of the work the team has put in this year," head coach Matt Weaver said. "We're training, working, and living at the right level to make big steps in the future. I already can't wait to get to work next year."

Results

Varsity 8+ - Third Final

Cornell - 5:42.669
Columbia - 5:45.476
Navy - 5:49.556
Drexel - 5:49.049
La Salle - 5:50.049
Georgetown - 5:51.026

2nd Varsity 8+ - Third Final