The duels are done; it’s judgment time. This weekend, the best of East and West will be crowned in the conference championships. For some, this will be a launching pad into the national championships in just a few weeks, while for others, this will be their last race in the eight. Which team will have which outcome will be decided over 2000 metres this weekend.
Eastern Sprints
Throughout the season, the question of who is the fastest in the East remained unsolved. The preseason favourites of #3 Harvard, #4 Princeton and #6 Brown have all won and lost against each other, leaving every eventuality on Sunday open. Coming into the fray this year was #5 Dartmouth, who did not race any of the previous crews but completed their first undefeated regular season since 1992. That year was the only occasion in the event’s lengthy history where Dartmouth won the Worcester Bowl for the top varsity eight, and Wyatt Allen’s squad will want to repeat that feat this weekend.
Behind them, #9 Yale have stumbled throughout the season but cannot be ruled out in the tight field this year, while #10 Northeastern have been on the wrong side of a number of close races this season. Perhaps the six-wide environment may push them over the edge.
At the back of the field, there is not too much in jeopardy regarding qualification for the IRAs as both #19 Navy and Holy Cross have direct victories over the Drexel unit, which will likely be the last crew out on selection day.
MPSF Championships
On the West Coast, the collapse of the Pac-12 conference has precipitated a changing landscape as the former Pac-12 schools have united with the Western Sprints programmes under the auspices of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation.
At the front, it will likely be another round of the battle between #1 Washington and #2 California. In the duel, the Huskies came out on top by just half a second on home water, so the Golden Bears will be hoping for a different outcome closer to the Bay Area, having adjusted the lineup and boat setup to extract maximum performance.
Don’t count out the #7 Stanford Cardinal, who have a young and exciting squad ready to mix it up with the dominant programmes of the twenty-first century.
Across the field, there will be six programmes booking their flights to the IRA Championships, so two of the four Western Sprints will likely make the cut. Gonzaga and UC San Diego will enter as favourites for these spots, but Santa Clara and the University of San Diego will be wanting to close the gap in the month since they raced directly.
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