CAMDEN, New Jersey — The Marietta College men's rowing team will travel to compete in the Intercollegiate Rowing Association National Championship this weekend (May 30 & 31).  The Pioneers received an automatic qualifying bid for the first time in program history after finishing as the top Division III team at the Mid-Atlantic Rowing Conference Championships earlier this month.
 
Pioneer fans and members of the media are invited to the team send off at 8:00 a.m. on Wednesday (May 28) morning outside the Dyson Baudo Recreation Center on campus. Come out and show your support for our student-athletes who are representing Marietta College on the national stage.
 
Although the Pioneers have sent crews to the IRA in the past, this will be the first time Marietta qualified a full team to participate in the Varsity Eight competition.  "Last year was our first season competing for a spot and we didn't get an at-large bid," said Marietta Men's Rowing head coach Greg Myhr.  "This year, we joined the MARC with an eye on the one Automatic Qualifying spot from that League - and we got it."
 
Marietta will compete in three heavyweight categories: the first and second varsity eights, and the varsity four.  The teams will all row in the heats on Friday.  The grand and "B" finals for the eights, along with the varsity four final, will be run on Saturday.
 
The Varsity Eight team will race first on Friday at 10:15 a.m. and will come in as the seventh seed.  The Pioneers will face crews from Colby College and Tufts University, both who have defeated Marietta in the regular season, and the No. 2 seeded Bates College squad.  Of the four teams in the heat, only three will advance to the championship on Saturday.
 
"In every way, our entire regatta is 'all-in' on the Friday's heat," said Myhr.  "If we can get it done, we'll have new horizons in front of us on Saturday in the Grand Final.  If we don't, we'll have our hands full in the B Final with whomever misses out in the other heat.  It's going to be two incredibly intense races, no matter what.  And that's what we're training for and what we're excited about.  We can't wait!"
 
The second varsity 8+ squad will compete next at 10:25 a.m. and will come into the race seeded fifth.  They will be racing against Williams College (Mass.), Ithaca College (N.Y.), and Trinity College (Ct.) in the heat, with the top three finishers advancing to the grand final on Saturday. Myhr called this team "battle tested" due to the fact that they won the Division Three race at the Dad Vail Regatta a few weeks back.  "The racing will be just as fierce, but the national championship is a whole new level," said Myhr.  "Again, we're excited and we're ready."
 
The final event that Marietta will race in on Friday is the Varsity Four time trial at 11:30 a.m. in which the Pioneers will be racing 38 other crews from around the country.  They will be battling some top line-ups from Division One as well as Division Three.  "All squads will be competitive and very fast," said Myhr.  "Although this is an open event with no qualification necessary, no team commits to this race without being highly capable and very prepared."
 
This year's IRA regatta will the 122nd running, and the fourth consecutive one to host a Division Three championship.  The races will be held on the Cooper River in Camden, NJ.  Livestreams of the event will be available HERE. The full race schedule and live results are available HERE. 
 
"The past three weeks since the Dad Vail have been invaluable in terms of training," concluded Coach Myhr.  "We've hammered out two-a-day workouts the entire time, and covered over 25% of our entire spring's mileage during this training camp.  This type of work pays dividends not only at the national championship, but also in team development for next year and beyond.  I really can't overstate the importance of having a full team here, training as hard as we are."
 
Fans can follow all the Pioneer teams all year long at pioneers.marietta.edu. You can also follow the Pioneers on Facebook at facebook.com/MariettaCollege and @MariettaPioneer on X and Instagram.