The Northeastern men’s rowing team will compete at the 123rd IRA Championship on Lake Natoma in Gold River, California, this weekend, according to a May 27 announcement. The Huskies have entered four boats into the national championship regatta: first, second and third varsity eights, as well as a varsity four.
Heats for the first three eights begin Friday morning. The top three finishers from each heat will advance to Saturday’s A/B Semifinal. The varsity four will start with a time trial Friday morning to determine placement in a semifinal race later that afternoon.
Friday’s schedule includes the first varsity eight racing at 8:32 a.m. Pacific Time in Lane 2 against Harvard, Boston University, Wisconsin, Holy Cross and MIT. The second varsity follows at 9:20 a.m., also in Lane 2 against Harvard, Penn, Navy, Holy Cross and Oregon State. The third varsity competes at 9:36 a.m. in Lane 3 against California, Penn, Navy and Holy Cross. The varsity four time trial begins at 11:30 a.m., with the top eighteen advancing to semifinals starting at 4 p.m.
Northeastern is making its fifty-eighth appearance at the IRAs since its debut in 1965; it has missed only three regattas since then. The program has earned three first-place finishes—two by the first varsity (1988 and 1991) and one by the second varsity (1979). Overall, Northeastern crews have appeared in sixty-nine IRA Grand Finals across all boat classes.
The Huskies secured automatic qualification for this year’s championship following their performance two weeks ago at Eastern Sprints. Northeastern finished third overall—their highest team standing in twenty years—after both top boats reached their respective Grand Finals for the first time since 2019.
