THE BASICS:
 
- Event: Dad Vail Regatta
 
- Location: Philadelphia, Pa. (Schuylkill River)
 
- The Lead: Following a two-week hiatus, the nationally-ranked No. 11 MIT men's lightweight Varsity 8+ won the Grand Final at the Dad Vail Regatta on Saturday afternoon. In addition, the Second Varsity 8+ and Third Varsity 8+ both advanced to the Grand Finals, finishing fifth and fourth, respectively.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED:
 
- In Saturday's V8+ Grand Final, MIT built a small lead off the start, growing slightly until the turn in the course. Mercyhurst tried to surge but faltered, allowing the Engineers to steadily move through them and gain nearly a length lead going into the sprint. The Lakers recovered a few sets in the last 300 meters but MIT had a large enough lead as it crossed the finish line about three-quarters of a boat ahead (5:43.618 – 5:45.94).
 
- Racing against strong heavyweight programs, the 2V8+ was the runner up in its heat with a time of 5:50.651. Drexel, the winner of the heat, immediately built a lead. MIT held on the rest of the boats through the start and gradually moved up on most of the field. The Engineers continued to move on Jacksonville throughout the race, eventually taking second place with a 3.554-second margin. In the Grand Final, MIT stayed in the race for third place for the first 1,200 meters but lost some ground in the home stretch. The Engineers finished fifth in 5:53.767, just over four seconds behind third-place George Washington and two seconds after St. Joseph's.
 
- In its heat, which determined lane placement for the Grand Final, the 3V8+ finished fourth in 6:14.753. In a neck-and-neck race with Jacksonville, MIT sprinted into the Dolphins in the final few hundred meters and then won by .038 seconds on the surge. Like Saturday's heat, the top three boats (Drexel, Temple, and St. Joseph's) overpowered the field in the Grand Final. However, the Engineers made quick work of Jacksonville as they crossed the finish line in 6:15.119, taking fourth place by almost 10 seconds.
 
V8+
Cox: Alice Martynova
8: Andrew Stoddard
7: Cameron Dougal
6: Sam Costa
5: Sam Boshar
4: Marc Rizk
3: Sasha Jovanovic-Hacon
2: Rick Ono
1: Richard Sollee
 
2V8+
Cox: Zhi Wei Gan
8: Jakob Jarczynski
7: Alexander Hom
6: Nick Dow
5: Kevin Shao
4: Garrett Hegel
3: Dylan Robinson
2: Stephen Alexander Brennan
1: Luke Stewart
 
3V8+
Cox: Emily Wang
8: Kartik Donepudi
7: Eric Hong
6: Aden Rothmeyer
5: Aiden Render-Katolik
4: Ari Grayzel
3: Joaquin Cruz
2: Julian Zulueta
1: Mark Razanau
 
UP NEXT:
 
- MIT will wrap up the season at the IRA National Championship on June 3-5 at Mercer Lake in West Windsor, N.J.
 
STAY CONNECTED:
 
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