IRA CHAMPIONSHIPS (LWW)
The college rowing regular season has come to a close, and what a journey it has been. Sunday was an exhilarating conclusion with the IRA finals in West Windsor, NJ. Stanford's Lightweight Women's team performed valiantly at every level, making us both proud in the moment and excited for the future.
The Stanford Lightweight Women improved mightily over last year with a great effort. The team is still on the smaller and younger side due to the temporary Stanford varsity cuts of 2020/2021. While neither the Men's nor Lightweight Women's team experienced an actual season off of varsity status, the spring/summer timing of the 2020 cut and 2021 reinstatement inhibited recruitment for both teams. In 2019, the Stanford Lightweight Women won the national championship in the 1V8 and 1V4 and fielded a 1V2x. In 2021 the team placed well in the 1V4 (1st) and 1V2x (2nd) but couldn't field a 1V8 at all. Last year, the 1V8 returned, placing 3rd in the grand final, 4.8 seconds off first, the 1V4 placed 5th, 23.6 seconds off the winner, and the 1V2x placed 8th. The progress has been very real, but a lot of hard work.
For the 2023 campaign, this improvement continued. During much of the season, the 1V8 was ranked #3 or #4 and made steady progress throughout, beating BU in Boston as a major highlight. They entered IRAs with a final #2 ranking and placed second in the heat. While Princeton was victorious in the grand final, Stanford held tough and earned the silver medal. Stanford's 1V8 was comprised of half freshmen rowers - far more than any other team - making the result all the more impressive.
The 1V4 has an even larger share of freshmen rowers - 3 of them. Competing at IRAs in one's first collegiate season is always a tall order, and they responded very well. They placed 6th in the final and were 12.8 seconds off first place, significantly cutting the 2022 gap by about half. Stanford didn't field a 1V2x with the smaller, younger team, but we know it will return before long.
The 23/24 season is exceptionally bright for the Stanford Lightweight Women, and we're very proud of their accomplishments this year!
Read the goStanford recap here.
Row2k (John Flynn) also had an excellent write-up on the team and coach Madison Keaty, which we've published below. Note the nice note from John about our community's effect on the varsity reinstatement - this was truly a total Stanford Rowing team effort!
"Stanford was the crew to grab the silver today, with Georgetown repeating their bronze medal from a year ago in a tight battle for the rest of the medals that were just as exciting as Princeton's margin was impressive. For Stanford, a program with a rich history of nine titles, silver was a welcome sight just three seasons removed from being cut and then reinstated with a new coach.
"It's been about getting the whole team rebuilt again," said head coach Madison Keaty about the past few seasons. Keaty took over the team when Stanford's alums successfully pressured the school to reverse its decision. "It was still a small group this year," Keaty said, "But I'm proud of the way that they handled themselves all year, through the ups and downs, and were able to come here this weekend and race gutsy for a medal."
Stanford's run to the podium started a month ago when they came east at the start of May as the #4 team and got a win over then #2 BU in Boston.
"Coming off of the BU race, they were feeling like this that was a good spot to be, but they still had things that they wanted to work on. Then over the course of the four weeks that we had before IRAs, they were the epitome of continual progress, week by week. They were really intentional in coming together more as a crew, and they were able to come into this weekend feeling ready to go, and like they could put their best foot forward. "Obviously, this is not ultimately a result that we're completely satisfied with," said Keaty, "but to still move the needle forward, for team and the program, in the direction we want to go was pretty awesome."
Not only do Stanford's 2023 IRA results speak for themselves, but we know we have a bright future. Each year both the Men's and Lightweight Women's programs continue to rebuild with new recruits, and we know next year will be exciting. And, we know the competition in some cases has benefitted from a 5th year of COVID eligibility of elite-level rowers, and this effect will continue to diminish.
With the upward momentum, and the Openweight Women winning NCAAs, we have every reason to be excited for next year for all three teams!
Go Stanford Rowing!
