2025 IRA CHAMPIONSHIPS (LIGHTS + MEN)

RESULTS

Stanford Women’s Lightweight Rowing – IRA Resilience

The Stanford Lightweight Women entered the IRAs in very difficult racing conditions for any boat, but particularly for lightweight athletes and smaller boats. All boats in the 2x finals across the course had their work cut out for them to find rhythm and get a full blade catch each stroke. Also, 2025 saw the rise of some greatly improved teams such as Radcliffe and BU alongside recent perennial power Princeton.

All three boats battled valiantly in the finals from outside lanes, with the V2x nearly reaching the podium. We’re looking forward to a 25/26 season continuing to build the program and having IRAs on the much better and more familiar waters of Lake Natoma!

Lightweight Women’s V8 Grand Final:

1.      Princeton         6:19.32

2.      Harvard           6:22.68

3.      Georgetown     6:29.90

4.      Boston Univ.    6:37.96

5.      Wisconsin        6:40.50

6.      Stanford          6:41.16

Lightweight Women’s V4 Grand Final:

1.      Princeton         7:14.32

2.      MIT                  7:15.22

3.      Harvard           7:18.82

4.      Boston Univ.    7:18.97

5.      Wisconsin        7:25.96

6.      Georgetown     7:40.88

7.      Stanford          7:41.92

Lightweight Women’s 2x Grand Final:

1.      Boston Univ.    7:37.35

2.      Wisconsin        7:38.31

3.      MIT                  7:40.66

4.      Stanford          7:49.47

5.      Georgetown     7:54.66

6.      Princeton         7:57.21

Commissioner’s Cup Standings:

1.      Princeton - 67

2.      Harvard - 59

3.      Boston - 57

4.      Georgetown - 52

5.      Wisconsin - 51

6.      Stanford - 42

7.      MIT - 32

8.      Gordon - 5

Read the goStanford writeup here.

The Lightweights finished 6th in the Commissioner’s Cup standings, with strong effort across all boats despite tough conditions. With another year of development and a return to familiar waters next season, the program is poised for continued growth in 2025–2026.

GO STANFORD ROWING!!!

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Steady Improvement and a Bright Future

The Stanford Men entered IRAs after a strong MPSF showing, but still underclassmen-laden and recovering from minor injuries during that time. Practices since then were strong and improving, but East Coast rivals were also getting faster from earlier in the season when some of them visited Redwood Shores. The strong competition plus the challenging race conditions meant anything could happen on any day, rankings and early season results now set aside.

While all three boats raced Friday and Saturday, the Stanford 1V4 was the first to close out its final. The 1V4 is historically a wild card event at IRAs, since it includes the top four rowers, often upperclassmen, of teams that ONLY enter the 1V4 race and no other races. Last year the 1V4 placed first in the 4th level final, or 19th. In 2025 the 1V4 placed 4th in the 3rd level final, or 16th nationally. A nice improvement, especially for a boat who only raced twice this year.

In 2024 the 2V8 placed first in the 3rd Level Final, or 13th overall. In 2025, they moved up to the Petite Final, amid strong competition, and 2nd, or 8th overall – a huge improvement. They were edged out by Princeton’s 2V8 by only three tenths of a second. In fact, their 5:34.850 time might be the fastest ever by a Stanford Men’s 2V8. They had a strong start and were leading early in the race, even from an outside lane, beating favored Northeastern in the middle of the course who had beaten them by 8 seconds in the semis!

The Stanford 1V8 placed a solid 12th nationally in 2024, finishing 6th in the Petite Final. In 2025, they improved to 3rd place in the Petite Final, or 9th nationally. They arrived having placed 5th in their semifinal, and facing strong competition from the other semi, where they would meet Yale (4th) and Penn (5th). Cal ended up being in the Petite Final due to the Saturday mishap, and not surprisingly won the race, but Stanford was able to hold off Yale and Penn, and was even leading through at least half the race.

All three boats had impressive finals determination on the live stream and a big step forward for the program in the results. With so many returning underclassmen, we know the future looks bright for the 2026 season!

Men’s 1V8 Petite Final:

1.      California        5:24.04

2.      Northeastern   5:25.45

3.      Stanford          5:27.11

4.      Pennsylvania   5:27.32

5.      Yale                 5:28.01

6.      Navy                5:34.34

Men’s 2V8 Petite Final:

1.      Princeton         5:34.52

2.      Stanford          5:34.85

3.      Northeastern   5:35.00

4.      Dartmouth      5:38.39

5.      Pennsylvania   5:38.59

6.      Boston Univ.    5:47.25

Men’s 1V8 3rd Level Final:

1.      Marist             6:27.44

2.      Stetson            6:29.42

3.      FIT                   6:31.40

4.      Stanford          6:34.57

5.      Cornell            6:37.63

6.      Oklahoma City 6:42.80

The Ten Eyck Team Points (of 24 total teams):

1.      WASHINGTON             285

2.      HARVARD                    279

3.      CALIFORNIA                244

4.      BROWN                       238

5.      PRINCETON                 237

6.      SYRACUSE                   232

7.      DARTMOUTH              221

8.      YALE                            209

9.      NORTHEASTERN         191

10.  PENNSYLVANIA            179

11.  CORNELL                     153

12.  STANFORD                   148

Since point scored is a function of boat entries, the Stanford Men will continue to rise as they build the size of the team in the near future.

Read the goStanford writeup here.

End of Season Highlights:

The Cardinal’s steady improvement in 2025 was seen not only in race results but in the depth and youth of the roster. Of the 27 rowers competing at IRAs, 21 were underclassmen and 23 are returning for next year. In fact, 13 of the 18 athletes in the IRA eights were underclassmen.

The 1V8 featured key leadership from graduate transfers Adrien Richez and Max Shakespeare, who brought IRA experience from Navy and Harvard respectively. James Fetter, a senior and walk-on from Palo Alto High, served as a cornerstone in the 1V8 and earned All-MPSF honors along with Shakespeare.

Freshman Elliott Donovan-Davies was named MPSF Freshman of the Year, having rowed in the 1V8 all season, and coxswain Gabrielle Zammit (also a freshman) led the boat at IRAs.

Stanford finished 12th in the Ten Eyck standings, improving from 14th in 2024, despite entering only two of the three point-scoring events—a sign of the team’s efficiency and potential as it grows.

The team raced entirely at home and posted a strong 7-3 record in the 1V8 and 6-4 in the 2V8. Among the season highlights was a signature win over then-#3 Brown at the Redwood Shores Challenge, followed by victories over Syracuse, then ranked #9. Notably, both Brown and Syracuse made the 1V8 Grand Final at IRAs, underscoring the value of Stanford’s wins and pointing to the program’s rising trajectory.

Team and Individual Honors:

• MPSF Varsity Eight Boat of the Week (March 6)

• MPSF Crew of the Week (March 6)

MPSF All-Academic Team:
Kannan Alford, Callan Berwick, Tom Corbett, James Fetter, Hylton Harvey, James Pullinger, Sandro Scalfi, Arthur Scott, Max Shakespeare, Luke Smith