Mark of the Oarsman II, 1979 Part 5

The IRAs began on the last day of May with heats for all seven crews on tap.  Two freshman fours with would take to the line wearing the orange, and Grad Assistant Jay Printzlau had a four with and pair with, both coming from the 3V that had enjoyed solid success in their races that spring.  The four had been together since the Sprints and was determined to do better than their third place finish at Quinsigamond.  With seniors and former IRA champions Bob Devlin in stroke and Pete Gaines at three and juniors Tom Weigartz and Joe Paduda making up the bow pair, there was plenty of experience in the boat.  There were nine boats in the four with, some comprised of lightweights from IRA schools, others boating the top four from the varsity eight, and the remainder breaking down their third varsity eights into small boats.  In the first heat, racing was very tight until halfway thru the third 500, when SU made its move with a power ten. Worcester PolyTech had been right with the Orange but couldn’t respond.  Syracuse pulled away from the field, finishing a very comfortable twelve seconds in front of the second place crew from Penn.  With its spot in the Grand Finals assured, the crew was able to relax and watch the other fours race off for the remaining lane assignments.

Saturday’s finals saw the SU four with lined up against Washington State, BU, WPI, Coast Guard, and Purdue. As the crews pulled into the stakeboats they were facing almost directly into a headwind that had picked up significantly from the day before.  Off the line, Devlin drove the rating up to a 42 for the first twenty, then kept it high for most of the first 500.  Across the 500, SU was in front of second place Washington State.  The Orange were rowing a 38, looking to take advantage of what had been the strength of their race, a fast start.  Truth be told, there had been a bit of miscommunication in the boat, and the settle didn’t happen after the initial forty strokes. 

Regardless, the lead held through the halfway point, when the size of the Washington State crew began to tell.  Outweighing the Orange by forty pounds a man, they began to pull away.  SU tried to respond, using the same hard push midway through the third 500 that had crushed WPI.  The move was hardly noticed by WSU, who continued to extend its lead.  The combination of the lengthy start, high rating thru the first quarter of the race and stiff headwind proved to be too much for the Orange, while the conditions were much to the westerners’ liking.  Washington State cruised to a comfortable victory with Syracuse winning the silver by open water over the Terriers of Boston University in third.