Worcester, Mass - #6 Men's crew competed at the National Invitational Rowing Championships on Sunday. The Mules were met with warm weather, sun, and a steady breeze that made for some challenging conditions on the course. For NESCAC teams, NIRCs is the conference championship and the last opportunity to compete for a bid to the IRA championship in California. With the stakes so high, the pressure was on and seasons were on the line. Racing was tight. Heading into the weekend, Colby's first and second boats were ranked 6th in the IRCA coaches poll and seeded 5th. The men's third and fourth varsity eights were also seeded 5th heading into the weekend. In the men's first, second, and third varsity eight events, a top-three finish in the morning heats guaranteed a trip to the grand final. With only seven entries in the men's fourth varsity, it was a straight final. In the events with morning heats, every men's boat finished third, earning a spot in the grand final. 

Now for the lineups and results: 

The first varsity was rowed by Will Leonard '29, Connor Katz '29, Andy Li '28, Ian Ucko '28, Jack Childress '26, Jack Weinberg '26, Jackson Harrington '28, William Eardley '26, and Cole Christensen '27. In the morning heat, finished third with a time of 6:36.742. In the afternoon final, the Mules failed to find a good rhythm and finished 6th with a time of 6:39.894. 

The second varsity was rowed by Charlie Pantelick '27, Benjamin Zipkin '29, Bennett Jones '27, William Steinwachs '29, Brendan Barrett '27,Theo Grossman '27, Reed Blaeser '29, Alex Malkani '29, and Nolan Roche '28. They finished their morning heat in third with a time of 6:46.157. In the afternoon, the Mules went for it, launching themselves off the line and racing hard through the first two-thirds of the race, before failing to maintain the pace through the last 500. They finished 6th with a time of 6:40.430. 

The third varsity was rowed by Nate Dunn '27, Charlie King '29, Garrett Leonard '29, Shankara Rao '29, Sumner Groves '28, Robbie Trowbridge '28, Timothy Enos '29, Alex Furber '29, and Sawyer Dillion '28. In their morning heat, they finished third in 6:54.848. In their afternoon final, they finished 5th with a time of 6:52.107. 

The fourth varsity was rowed by Leon Lee '29, Josh Bradshaw '28, Tyler Merritt '28, Ian Zhou '28, Henry Evans '28, Sam Mulcahy '28, Dan Steber '27, Theo Ornstein '28, and Doug DeNatale '28. The Mules raced hard in their final, ultimately finishing 6th with a time of 6:55.953. 

The Mules now wait to hear if they'll be awarded an at-large bid to the IRA national championship at the end of the month in Sacramento, California.