PENNSAUKEN, N.J. – The Wesleyan men's crew team has secured a spot in both IRA Division III National Championship grand finals on Saturday, after showing well in Friday's preliminary heats on Cooper River. The Cardinals, who captured the 2024 IRA National Championship, will go for a repeat title on Saturday afternoon.
Needing a Top 3 finish in Heat 1, Wesleyan's varsity 8 boat secured a spot with a second place finish in their respective heat. Racing against Trinity, Williams, and Ithaca, the Cardinals landed 3.78 seconds behind the Bantams with a time of 5:49.14 while Wesleyan finished just ahead of the Ephs who clocked in at 5:49.73 as all three will race again in the grand final on Saturday. When combined with the other three grand finalists (Bates, Tufts, Colby) coming from Heat 2, the Cardinals' preliminary time of 5:49.14 is the second-fastest out of the eight total boats in the competition. The all-NESCAC grand final is scheduled for 12:20 PM on Saturday.
In the third-ever IRA D3 National Championship 2
nd varsity 8 competition, Wesleyan's 2V8 gave Tufts all they could handle in Heat 2, as the two boats were neck-and-neck throughout before finishing just 0.08 seconds apart at the finish line. Wesleyan's time of 5:57.79 was just behind the Jumbos' 5:57.71 as the two boats clocked in as the two fastest 2V8 boats in preliminaries out of the eight total in competition. Wesleyan and Tufts will be joined by Colby, Williams, and Ithaca in Saturday's grand final which is scheduled for 11:50 AM.
Boat Lineups:
Varsity 8 –
Asher Israel '26 (coxswain),
Cory Reavy '26,
Pierce Buckner-Wolfson '26,
Nelson Bellows '26,
Eli Smirin '26,
Gus Shuman '27,
Sam Penn '28,
Brett Beaman '26, and
Hugo Harington '25
2nd Varsity 8 –
Ben Fischer '27 (coxswain),
Will McNally '27,
Ben Vyzas '28,
Drew Hinton '28,
Jack Cornog '26,
Roy Krueger '28,
Paul Kiyonaga '25,
Freddie Bell '25, and
Leyton Tucci '28
