By Chris Judd, News Staff

The Northeastern University men’s rowing team came in fourth in the Intercollegiate Rowing Association (IRA) National tournament this weekend. They were one of four teams to place at least three crews in the grand finals.

The first varsity eight team started out strong, as they were in third place for the first 1,000 meters of the race. Early in the second 1,000 meters, the Huskies overtook Harvard University and were three-quarters of a boat length behind University of Washington, who was leading the race. Harvard overtook the Huskies in the final 600 meters and Brown University moved ahead to send the Huskies to a fourth place finish. The Huskies (5:42.72) finished half a second behind second-place Harvard and only three seconds out of first in the program’s best race in 20 years.

In the second varsity eight race, the Huskies started out battling University of California for fourth place. However, the Huskies fell off, and ended up finishing in sixth at 6:01.68, seven seconds out of winning a medal.

Northeastern earned its first medal with the open four grand final. They team seized second place immediately and challenged Washington in first, with California close behind in third. The crews remained in that position throughout the race, with the Huskies finishing at 6:32.01, just 1.32 seconds behind first place.

In the varsity four third-level final, Jacksonville University, Northeastern and University of Oregon had an early lead from the rest of the pack. Jacksonville and Northeastern remained in the first and second positions for the entire race, and eventually the Huskies finished the race about three seconds behind Jacksonville (6:52.29).

Northeastern advanced four crews to the conference championships and three to the national championship while earning two medals. Due to his travel schedule, head coach John Pojednic could not be reached for comment.

The Huskies next return to racing at the Henley Royal Regatta in England from July 3 to July 7.