Lehighsports.com

CAMDEN, N.J. - Lehigh completed the rowing season this past weekend at the Intercollegiate Rowing Association National Championships (IRA’s).  This year Lehigh was accepted in the men’s four without coxswain, men’s pair, men’s freshmen eight and the women’s lightweight eight.

The men’s four raced to a first place in heats on Thursday five seconds ahead of second place Colgate (second), Syracuse (third), St. Joes (fourth), BC (fifth) and Delaware (fifth).  This advanced Lehigh directly to the grand finals on Saturday where they place fourth overall behind Harvard (first), Wisconsin, and Georgia Tech.  Fourth place matches Lehigh’s best showing at the IRA which was in 2002 in the men’s varsity four with coxswain.  Members of the four were Stroke seat Matt Galuska, three seat Phil Bresnahan, two seat Todd Mickelson, and bow Jon Winter.

The women’s eight race in the heat to a fifth place finish behind Princeton, Central Florida University, Wisconsin, and Rhode Island Friday morning forcing them to row in repachages that evening. Placing fourth in the reps moved them to the second level finals.  In the finals, Lehigh made a strong second half charge to move through Stanford and Ohio State and finish fourth in their final (tenth overall)

The men’s pair finished 17th and the men’s freshmen eight finished sixth in their semifinal and did not advance to finals.