By Travis Gschrey, News Correspondent  The men’s rowing team capped off a successful season this past weekend at the IRA National Championship in Mercer, N.J. finishing fifth overall in team points. The strong results for Northeastern came from the depth of the team, as it has in so many other events this season. Three of the school’s four squads finished as scoring boats. The first varsity won the Petite Final for a seventh place finish, and the second and third varsity squads finished fifth and fourth in their respective Grand Final races. At 147 team points, Northeastern finished behind the University of Washington (192), the -University of California-Berkeley (188), Brown University (178), and Princeton University (165). “I think there is a difference between being happy andhaving perspective on your results,” head coach Scott Pojednic told GoNU.com. “The team – not the coaches, but the athletes – has decided that the goal is to be a contender for a national championship. The team finished fifth overall and we did not make it to the medal podium in any of the events, so I do not think anyone is necessarily “happy” with the results. “At the same time, we all know that these were good, strong results.  We know the crews raced very hard and very competitively.  We know we are one of the strongest teams nationally.  I think we are satisfied that we left everything on the race course, however, I think we learned that we are going to need to dig deeper next year if we want to get results that we are really excited about.” While the team may not be happy about missing the Grand Final and a shot at the national title, they can perhaps find solace in the fact that in the Petite Final on Sunday, the squad posted the third fastest time (5:41.463) of any boat to race that day. The results at this year’s IRA National Championship is another step in Northeastern’s journey to cement itself as one of the elite programs in the country.  Coach Pojednic went on to describe this season as another productive season for the program. “Well, the season was another building year.  If you’re not closely involved with the sport it might be hard to tell, but we managed to accomplish some great things,” Pojendic told GoNU.com. “One,we changed our rowing style/technique from an “intermediate” stroke to an “advanced” stroke.  This is going to pay off next year and beyond. Second, we were nationally competitive in all three point-scoring boat classes – the 1v, 2v, and 3v – at both the Eastern Sprints and the National Championship. Third, we won the Eastern Sprints in the 2v event.  Northeastern hasn’t won the Eastern Sprints in a point scoring event since 1978.  I think that all three of these things are going to carry over into next year.” Northeastern will continue to build going forward. Moreover, for a program that is showing a consistent upward trend, a fifth place national finish and momentum heading into the offseason is certainly something to be positive about. “I think it’s ok that this was another ‘building year’,” Coach Pojednic told GoNU.com “But I think next year we need to figure out how to just have a really fast year. One thing I’d like to point out is that I’m very happy that the outgoing seniors had a good season. We will miss them.” Photo Courtesy of GoNU.com.