Wisconsin Badgers
IRA National Championship
Wisconsin men's crew comes in 16th at IRA National Championship
May 31, 2026 | Men's Rowing
Three Badger boats take top-three spots in their Sunday races
GOLD RIVER, Calif. – The Wisconsin men's rowing team completed its season in 16th place at the 2026 Intercollegiate Rowing Association (IRA) National Championships on Lake Natoma on Sunday. All three Badger boats found top-three spots in their Sunday finals, with the varsity and second varsity eight crews taking 15th overall in their events.
The varsity eight boat finished five seconds faster than Saturday's race to collect a third-place finish in the Third-Level Final. Cornell and Navy finished in first and second in the race. Washington edged California in the Grand Final of the varsity eight and went on to capture the Ten Eyck Trophy as team points champion.
UW's second varsity eight boat found a third-place finish in its Third-Level Final as well, coming in at 5:56:390 over 2000 meters. Boston University and Drexel took the top two spots. Columbia, Navy, and Holy Cross finished behind the Badgers in the race. The Badger boat improved its time by eight seconds from the semifinal round.
Wisconsin's third varsity eight won the Four-Level Final, winning in 6:07:000 to claim 19th overall. Trailing behind the Badgers were Oregon State and La Salle.
Straight from the Shore
Head Coach Beau Hoopman
"Across the board, every boat raced hard in the finals; in the 1V, instead of searching for some magical start, we just told them to treat it like dash camp and attack the first 500. That set them up to be in the lead for the first 1k of the race from the far outside lane. They hung on and got 15th overall, which is just one place off of last year. Going forward, that lesson of all-out attack is what we need to keep front and center. The 2V did well; they just must've caught what the 1V had, as their start was a little slow, and they found themselves down and finished 15th overall as well. The 3V keeps getting faster, which is a good sign for the younger novices in that boat.
"The season had its ups and downs, but ended on a good note going into next year. It's going to be a tall task to replace the 14 guys who are graduating, but they've held up their end in building the speed and culture of the program.
"SOAR starts tomorrow, so we'll be on the lookout for capable freshmen athletes."
Senior Henry Griffin on the varsity eight
"This whole season we've had problems with starts and with ending up on the wrong side of close races. Today, we were able to win a close race against Columbia in part because we had a really strong start. A lot of our improvement comes from being pushed by a young, strong 2V. I can't wait to see how much the team improves as they move up into the varsity."
Coxswain Charles Ramquist on the varsity eight
"Going into this race, we were in the final or lane we were hoping for, but had the mentality of let's row the fastest race we can that we can be proud of. That was the race we rowed, where every stroke was as hard as possible, and no one let off. These guys fought to the end and gave the seniors the send-off they deserved and set the tone for next year."
2026 IRA National Championships
May 31 (Day 3)
Lake Natoma
Gold River, Calif.
2000 meters
Varsity Eight - Final 3 (Places 13-18)
1. Cornell, 5:47.435; 2. Navy, 5:47.594; 3. Wisconsin, 5:51.037; 4. Columbia, 5:51.309; 5. Georgetown, 5:54.102; 6. Holy Cross, 5:56.600
UW Lineup – Coxswain Charles Ramquist, Ethan Schumacher, Joe Siddall, Lukas Weinhold, Andrew Soman, Elias Strasman, Thomas Leuty, Ruffin Bryant, Henry Griffin.
Second Varsity Eight - Final 3 (Places 13-18)
1. Columbia, 5:51.180; 2. Drexel, 5:53.952; 3. Wisconsin, 5:56.390; 4. Columbia, 5:58.960; 5. Navy, 5:59.263; 6. Holy Cross. 6:02.492
UW Lineup – Coxswain Taj Chunawala, Raul Gupta, Luke Lehmann, Benjamin Cook, Isaac Rockwell, Julian Kuehn, William Carey, Jeremiah Lesniak, William Harper
Third Varsity Eight - 4 Final (Places 19-21)
1. Wisconsin, 6:07.000; 2. Oregon State, 6:10.157; 3. La Salle, 6:19.672
UW Lineup – Coxswain Alexander Quinn, Maxwell McCartney, Henry Wurdell, Benjamin Whelan, Connor Treccia, Oliver Zanetich, Lincoln Boehm, Patrick Trihey, Haakon Rosholt
