The IRA, or Intercollegiate Rowing Association, celebrated the 122nd running of the National Championship Regatta on the Cooper River in Camden, New Jersey this past weekend, May 30th to June 1st.
The IRA consists of 64 member institutions, which represent rowing programs who compete at the Division I or Division III Level in men’s heavyweight, men’s lightweight or women’s lightweight rowing. All-member institutions are eligible to compete in the IRA National Championship. Of these institutes, the ones invited to participate in the 2025 IRA National Championship were selected based on the performance of their Varsity 8+ and subsequent recipient of an Automatic Qualifying or At-Large bid. Some of the D1 Heavyweight Men’s teams that competed alongside Drexel included schools such as Boston University, Georgetown, Gonzaga University, University of Washington, the US Naval Academy as well as all of the Ivy League schools.
Drexel men’s rowing team placed 12th in the IRA Championships Saturday afternoon. Additionally, the varsity four boats came home sixth in the second final. The team, consisting of rowers Luke Joseph (coxswain), Zach Key, Andrew Manns, Matthew Kennedy and Kyle Brown (bow), crossed the finish line with a time of 6:33.510. In comparison, Saint Joseph’s University, winner of the race, had a time of 6:20.690. The overall winner of the championship was the University of Washington.
At 6:13.015, Drexel had the 15th best time overall in the time trials. The V4+ boat additionally qualified for the second final in the championship, and made a fourth place finish.