May 14, 2010

Heavyweight Crews Head to Eastern Sprints

NEW HAVEN, Conn.- The de facto Ivy League Championship takes place this Sunday in Worcester, Mass. Yale crews will line up against Ivy rivals and the rest of the EARC to determine Ivy League titles, EARC titles and who advances to the IRA Regatta. Rankings going into the event put the varsity eight (5-1) in third, the second varsity (3-3) in seventh, the third varsity (5-0) in second and the freshmen (2-4) in tenth. Rankings based on the season's performances against opposing crews (voted on by EARC coaches) create a seeding for the event that determines preliminary heats.

This year the No. 3 varsity will race in the third preliminary heat at 11:36 a.m in lane one. It will face No. 4 Wisconsin, No. 9 Columbia, No. 10 BU, No. 15 Georgetown and No. 16 Holy Cross. The top two finishers advance to the grand final.

The No. 7 second varsity will race at 10:36 a.m. in the first heat against No. 1 Brown, No. 6 Syracuse, No. 12 Northeastern and No. 13 Pennsylvania. The top two from each heat qualify for the grand final.

The No. 2 third varsity will race at 8:50 a.m. against No. 3 Wisconsin, No. 6 Princeton, No. 7 BU, No. 10 Dartmouth and No. 11 Holy Cross. Here, the top three move on to the grand final.

The No. 10 freshman eight races at 10:00 a.m. against No. 3 Navy, No. 4 BU, No. 9 Georgetown, No. 15 Holy Cross and No. 16 Rutgers. The top two in each of the three heats advance to the grand final.

The finals will take place in the afternoon as follows:

1:55 p.m. 3V Grand Final

2:37 p.m. Freshman Third Level Final

2:52 p.m. Freshman Petite Final

3:07 p.m. Freshman Grand Final

3:49 p.m. Second Varsity Third Level Final

4:04 p.m. Second Varsity Petite Final

4:19 p.m. Second Varsity Grand Final

4:31 p.m. Varsity Third Level Final

4:46 p.m. Varsity Petite Final

5:01 p.m. Varsity Grand Final

The top nine varsity eight finishers from EARC Sprints will receive automatic invitations to the IRA Regatta in June that serves as the national championship. There will also be five at-large bids. Selection to the second varsity and freshman eight events is predicated on first being selected to the heavyweight varsity eight event.

Live results can be found here.

Report filed by Yale Sports Publicity.