Syracuse men’s rowing’s 2nd varsity 8 shines at Princeton Invite
Syracuse men's rowing's 2V8 won its sole race at the Princeton Invite Saturday, while SU's V8 placed fourth before beating Penn head-to-head. Meghan Hendricks | Daily Orange File Photo
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Despite not competing the previous weekend, Syracuse men’s rowing’s varsity 8 crew dropped to No. 9 after the Week 2 IRCA/IRA Men’s Varsity 8+ Poll released Wednesday — a shift that put added focus on its season debut at the Princeton Invite Saturday.
The varsity 8 was unable to reinforce its preseason ranking of No. 7 in the morning race, finishing last, recording a time of 6:16.977. SU finished 8.888 seconds behind the winner, No. 2 Cal, and also trailed No. 11 Yale and No. 5 Brown.
After a break, the V8 crew faced off in a one-on-one race against No. 10 Penn, where Syracuse redeemed itself by winning with a time of 6:06.365, finishing 3.908 seconds ahead of the Quakers.
Syracuse’s second varsity 8 delivered one of the team’s strongest performances of the day, winning the morning race in 6:15.993 — faster than the varsity 8’s earlier time. The Orange defeated the second-place Golden Bears by 3.604 seconds, along with Brown and the Bulldogs. The 2V8 carried that momentum into the afternoon, securing another victory with a time of 6:13.852, beating out Penn by 3.792 seconds.
SU’s third varsity 8 got out to some early action, finishing a narrow 3.078 seconds behind Cal with a time of 6:24.131, while outperforming both Yale and Brown. The fourth varsity 8 came out on top in its first race of the day at Carnegie Lake, completing the course in 6:46.681 and edging out Brown, along with Princeton’s lightweight men’s rowing team.
Later in the day, SU’s 3V8 faced off against Penn but fell short, ending the race in 6:19.831, 3.936 seconds behind the Quakers. The Orange’s 4V8 couldn’t get it done against Princeton, finishing with a time of 6:25.627, which was 10.15 seconds behind the Tigers.
While Syracuse found success in several boats, the varsity 8’s inconsistent showing did little to push back against its drop in the rankings.
