IRAs 2022

[ieatergsforbreakfast]

An instagram post from a college team suggests that the draw has already happened. Don't see anything on row2k. Anyone got it?

Finalists:
1. Cal
2. Yale
3. Dartmouth
4. Brown
5. UW
6. Harvard

[dresser]

It will be published Wednesday morning.

[lt.wolf]

Varsity Heavyweight Eight
1 Boston University
2 Brown University
3 Colgate University
4 Columbia University
5 Cornell University
6 Dartmouth College
7 Drexel University
8 Harvard University
9 Marist College
10 MIT
11 Northeastern University
12 Oregon State University
13 Princeton University
14 Santa Clara University
15 Stanford University
16 Syracuse University
17 Temple University
18 U.S. Naval Academy
19 University of California, Berkeley 20 University of California, San Diego 21 University of Pennsylvania
22 University of Washington
23 University of Wisconsin
24 Yale University

[wgsm]

Looks like the last three at large bids were Marist, Temple and Penn. Seems like good choices.

Marist barely lost to MIT at NIRC, beat Holy Cross and Temple, and lost to Columbia by less than a length
Temple was right there with Colgate at Vails and beat UCSD, Holy Cross, and Georgetown
Penn beat Columbia and Oregon St earlier in the season and was competitive with Northeastern in dual racing

Seems like Penn is trending in the wrong direction in the trucks at Sprints

Somehow Oregon St makes it every year despite not beating anyone else in the IRA field during the regular season except for Western Sprints entrants

[str8four]

OSU, UCSD, Santa Clara, and USD have all likely been beneficiaries of the "regional diversity" objective of IRA selection in some of the last 10+ years.

Conversely, Marist, Georgetown, Holy Cross, MIT, Trinity, Bates, SJU, Jacksonville, etc on the east coast may have been faster than some of the west coast schools that got IRA invitations, but found themselves on the outside looking in because there were already another 18+ east coast schools that were faster than them.

Personally I don't think it matters if Santa Clara, USCD, HC, or Georgetown finish 21st - 24th. That is not where the meat of the racing happens. I would prefer that they go to a time trial and all allow everyone to who wants to come show up and race. Top 24 go to the normal progression and #25 - #?? get the time trial and a 5th level final. The extra weeks of training, especially for a 2V and 3V go a long way to developing athletes.

[fullmetal]

Oregon State did beat Georgetown.

[lt.wolf]

How is the boat weighing in process going? I heard in passing today that programs are weighing boats in at home for verification.

[lt.wolf]

Thinking this finishing order

Yale
Cal
Brown
Dartmouth
Harvard
Princeton


Brown and Dartmouth can easily flip, I just have a bet with Dartmouth alums.

[Sarge]

Dartmouth is right in the middle of exams. Does that take a bit of a toll?
Harvard been down at Red Top. Focus on IRA's or H/Y?
Cal beats Yale for the top spot.

[lt.wolf]

I am pretty sure Wyatt is all over exam scheduling.

If Yale is healthy they win by half a length.

[Faster-n-faster]

Cal
Yale
Brown
Dartmouth
Princeton
Washington

My take. I’m going out on a limb here with those last two. Cal absolutely #1.

[FullSend]

Yale
Cal
...
...
Washington
Dartmouth
Brown
Harvard

I'm probably overstating the margin from the top 2 to the field but the gap seems stark.

UW was picking up speed between the dual and Pac 12s, if that continues then I think they get ahead of Dartmouth and Bruno. Last spot is tricky, I think Harvard has the better horses than Pton but should be interesting

[Cowbells123]

LTWT predictions?…..

[lt.wolf]

I am hitching a ride on the Yale bandwagon for lightweights

Yale
Navy
Cornell

[str8four]

IMO IRAs in 2022 will be a little more interesting than usual. I see three races wrapped up in one:

1. The race for gold between Yale and Cal. On paper it is Cal's race to lose, but you'd be foolish to discount Yale that much. I am still going with the Golden Bears.

2. The race just to make the Grand Final. If Cal and Yale are in, who are the other 4 when the candidates are (7): Brown, Princeton, Dartmouth, UW, Syracuse, Harvard, and Northeastern? There were a couple of surprises at Sprints (Brown over Harvard, and Princeton ahead of Harvard and Syracuse in the final - in the outside lane). The questions are: Do Brown and Princeton continue to gain speed (relative to the field)? or Is someone else going to turn a weak Sprints performance into motivation for a great IRA training camp and performance? I like the trend to continue and we see Princeton and Brown in GF, with SYR and NE in the Petite. That leaves just two spots for UW, Dartmouth and Harvard, one of which will be very disappointed with their Petite Final showing.

3. The race for Bronze - This is the biggest wildcard IMO. At least one, but more likely two or three crews will be stepping up huge for IRA. That could mean just squeaking into the final or gutting out the Bronze medal. You can make a good case for Brown, Dartmouth, Princeton, or UW, but I will roll with the Harvard Crimson. I think they have the talent to survive the 3 day regatta and a reasonable heat draw to "just finish 2nd" behind Yale. Brown/Princeton might race for 1st and 2nd along with Dart/UW. I don't think it will take Harvard too much effort to stay ahead of Columbia and Stanford, leaving them something extra for the Semi and Grand.