The Bruins took a Varsity 4 and Freshman 4 back east to compete at the 105th IRA Championship in Cherry Hill, NJ this past weekend.

On Thursday, the freshman faced a field of 24 crews racing in four heats with one moving directly to the semis. The Bruins finished third behind heat winner Boston U. and went into the afternoon reps. The Varsity 4 had a midday time trial, a first at the IRA, to determine the top 12 crews for Friday's semifinal. To allow all entries into the IRA it was decided to run a 1750 meter time trial for the 34 entries. The Bruins posted the 8th best time to advance with the top 12 times only 6 seconds apart.

The Frosh were back on the Cooper River in the afternoon for the Reps which would advance the top two finishers for Friday's semifinals. George Washington controlled the race early with Orange Coast a close second and the Bruins third. As the crews crossed the 500 meter mark the Bruins began to move, pulling even with Orange Coast. Both crews went back and forth over the last 300 meters which brought them even with GWU.

With 2 qualifying spots on the line all three crews sprinted for the finish line with GWU winning by .44 seconds in a photo finish with Coast and UCLA. Orange Coast was declared the second place crew by .6 over the Bruins. "It was a heck of a race, said Coach Mokha, the freshman really showed some character in the last 500 meters."

Friday was the semifinals with the Frosh 4 racing for a spot in the 3rd level final and the Varsity for a spot in the Grand final. The Frosh took the lead early and controlled the race. They finished with an open water victory over Georgetown, Minnesota, Dartmouth and Penn. The Varsity, knowing all 6 boats were within 4 seconds in the time trial, needed to be very aggressive. Temple took the early lead with the rest of the field even. As the race went into the second thousand, Temple took control as Gonzaga held second with UCLA , Colgate and MIT just 2 three seats behind. This race, as did most at the IRA, came down to the last 30 strokes with Temple winning and the rest of the field finishing within 2.8 seconds of each other. Gonzaga finished second and the Bruins claimed the third spot just .9 ahead of Colgate.

Saturday morning started with the freshman 4 3rd level final. Wisconsin and UCLA quickly distanced themselves form the field as Wisco moved out to a 4 seat lead with 500 meters to go. The Bruins put on a tremendous sprint pulling even with 20 strokes to go as both crews rowed even to the finish. It again came to a photo finish which showed Wisco's oars in the water as they crossed the line giving them a .6 second win over the Bruins. "These kids are great boat racers; it's ashamed they came up on the short end of two photo finishes this weekend. I am very proud of them," said coach Mokha.

In the Varsity 4 grand final the field rowed level to the 1500 meter mark when the field began to separate. Temple and Cal went into the lead and the Bruins began to fall off the pace. They could not find the base speed needed for this Championship race and finished 6th with Cal the winner followed by Temple and Brown. "We just did not perform when it counted. It is a disappointing finish to what was a very good year, said coach Mokha, This will be a good learning experience for this group and should help them when we come back here next year."