Gazette-Times

CHERRY HILL, N.J. — Oregon State’s Freshman 4+ qualified for the Grand Final in dramatic fashion at the Intercollegiate Rowing Association Championships on the Cooper River with a third place finish in its semifinal heat race, edging out Navy by half a second for the last Grand Final spot.

Both the Varsity 8+ and Varsity 4+ qualified for the Petite Final after finishing sixth in their respective semifinal races.

The freshmen got out to a strong start, but fell back to fifth through the first 500 meters. The Beavers’ rookies battled for the fourth and fifth positions as they slowly closed the gap with 500 meters to go.

With OSU solidly in fourth, freshman coxswain Ian Hunnicutte called for a sprint and his crew responded, outracing the Midshipmen to the wire to claim their spot in today’s Grand Final.

“The freshman raced a superb race,” assistant coach Dave Friedericks said. “In the last 250 meters they basically said ‘It’s now or never,’ and just put together an all out sprint to nip Navy. It was very exciting, a little too exciting for me, but I couldn’t be more happy.”

For the second day in a row, OSU’s 17th-ranked V8+ was racing a field loaded with Top-10 opponents, including No. 2 ranked Harvard, No. 3 California, No. 4 Yale, No. 6 Wisconsin and No. 7 Brown. The Beavers couldn’t overcome their opponents’ strength and came in sixth to land a spot in the Petite Final.

“We expected a tough field against five of the higher ranked crews and that is exactly what we got,” coach Steve Todd said. “Three of the crews were medalists at the EARC Eastern Sprints, Brown was fifth and California finished second at Pac-10s, so we knew we had our hands full. We’ve worked hard and were happy to be in the semis. We didn’t have our best race, but it’s something to build on for tomorrow and see how high we can finish.”

An inexperienced V4+ boat, having a hard time adjusting to a new race format at IRA’s for the V4+ boats, finished sixth and qualified for the Petite Final.

“This was our first 2,000-meter race against other crews due to the new formatting,” said Friedericks. “It didn’t allow us to have our same preparation. This boat is a little inexperienced and it has taken them a little longer to get their bearings. The guys weren’t pleased with their race, but we just have to put that behind us and prepare for (today) and do the best we can in the petite.

“Going for seventh through twelfth place in the nation isn’t bad.”

The IRA Championships will conclude today with the finals.

Freshman 4+ Semifinal

1. California 6:29.3; 2. Boston U. 6:36.6; 3. Oregon St 6:39.1; 4 Navy 6:39.6; 5. Grand Valley 6:41.4; 6. GW Univ. 6:49.5

Varsity 8+ Semifinal

1. California 5:32.5; 2. Harvard 5:32.8; 3. Brown 5:33.8; 4. Yale 5:33.9; 5. Wisconsin 5:36.3; 6. Oregon St 5:55.0

Varsity 4+ Semifinal

1. Temple 6:19.5; 2. Gonzaga 6:22.9; 3. UCLA 6:24.4; 4. Colgate 6:25.3; 5. MIT 6:25.7; 6. Oregon St 6:34.1