Wisconsin Badgers
IRA National Championship
Badgers finish strong during national championship semifinal rounds in California
May 30, 2026 | Men's Rowing
Wisconsin men's rowing team concludes second day of IRA's
GOLD RIVER, Calif. – The No. 12 Badger men's crew wrapped up their second day of competition at the 2026 Intercollegiate Rowing Association (IRA) National Championships on Lake Natoma on Saturday. Both the second varsity eight and varsity four boats won their semifinals.Â
The varsity eight boat raced to a close third-place finish in 5:56.400 over 2000 mters. Navy and Columbia took the first and second-place spots, passing UW by just two and four seconds, respectively. That result was good enough to put the Badgers in Sunday's Third-Level Final for places 13-18.
The second varsity eight boat won its CD semifinal in 6:03.110 and will race in Sunday's Third Level Final for places 13-18. The Badgers surpassed the other four boats in the race, including Columbia, Holy Cross, Georgetown and Oregon State.
For the Badgers' third varsity eight CD semifinal race, the crew placed fourth at 6:12.610. Columbia, Holy Cross and Drexel took the top-three spots. They will race Sunday in Final 4 for places 19-21.
The varsity four found great success in their final race with a first-place finish in 6:58.100 6t to take 25th overall. Drexel, Columbia, Bates, and Holy Cross placed second through fifth in that race.
Straight from the Shore
Head Coach Beau Hoopman
"For the most part, everyone had good races this morning. I know the 1V would like a rerow, but you only get one opportunity to prove it in the semi. The important thing is that they moved on to the C final. They still have yet to put a full race together; their start was better, but they're still spotting everyone a lead, which you can't do in this league. For the four seniors in that boat, they have one more opportunity to unleash a good piece. The 2V is progressing nicely; being a young boat that is figuring it out in the fly and improving each piece is a cornerstone of our program. They are doing their job. The 3V is doing the same. This morning was a vast improvement from yesterday; they found themselves in the race at the end, which is a good sign. Last but not least, the 4+ had a good final race. They looked much sharper than yesterday and were aggressive throughout the piece. Still a lot of work left for tomorrow in the eights, and the guys just need to be willing to go deep in the well to get every drop of water they can."
Captain Elias Strassman on the varsity eight
"I think our finish went well. We were able to walk back and qualify for the C final. We will be coming to the course aggressively and not thinking about our previous races. We're bringing a confidence that I know we have. We are going to race our race and focus on going fast. Keeping it simple."
Benjamin Cook on the second varsity eight
"We got out hot and built up an early lead and held off any moves the other boats tried to make, tomorrow we need to hold more speed coming off the starting high strokes. Vibes are pretty good considering we took care of business this morning and know what we have to do tomorrow to make it a race."
UP NEXT: Wisconsin will close out its season on Sunday for the final rounds of racing.
Sunday Schedule:
Third Varsity Eight Final 4 – 8:50 a.m. (Oregon State, Wisconsin, La Salle)
Second Varsity Eight Final 3 – 9:22 a.m. (Boston, Wisconsin, Drexel, Columbia, Navy, Holy Cross)
Varsity Eight Final 3 – 9:30 a.m. (Cornell, Navy, Georgetown, Columbia, Holy Cross, Wisconsin)
2026 IRA National Championships
May 30 (Day 2)
Lake Natoma
Gold River, Calif.
2000 meters
Varsity Eight - CD Semifinal 2 – Top 3 to C Final, Rest to D Final
1. Navy, 5:52.290; 2. Columbia, 5:54.330; 3. Wisconsin, 5:56.400; 4. Drexel, 5:59.280; 5. Oregon State, 6:05.260; 6. MIT, 6:07.390
UW Lineup – Coxswain Charles Ramquist, Ethan Schumacher, Joe Siddall, Lukas Weinhold, Andrew Soman, Elias Strasman, Thomas Leuty, Ruffin Bryant, Henry Griffin.
Second Varsity Eight - CD Semifinal 1 – Top 3 to C Final, Rest to D Final
1. Wisconsin, 6:03.110; 2. Columbia, 6:05.650; 3. Holy Cross, 6:07.810; 4. Georgetown, 6:10.300; 5. Oregon State, 6:21.070
UW Lineup – Coxswain Taj Chunawala, Raul Gupta, Luke Lehmann, Benjamin Cook, Isaac Rockwell, Julian Kuehn, William Carey, Jeremiah Lesniak, William Harper
Third Varsity Eight - CD Semifinal 2 - Top 3 to C Final, Rest to D Final
1. Columbia, 6:06.460; 2. Holy Cross, 6:610.600; 3. Drexel, 6:11.210; 4. Wisconsin, 6:12.610; 5. La Salle, 6:26.550
UW Lineup – Coxswain Alexander Quinn, Maxwell McCartney, Henry Wurdell, Benjamin Whelan, Connor Treccia, Oliver Zanetich, Lincoln Boehm, Patrick Trihey, Haakon Rosholt
Varsity Four - Final 5 (Places 25-29)
1. Wisconsin, 6:58.100; 2. Drexel, 6:59.840; 3. Columbia, 7:02.990; 4. Bates, 7:10.410; 5. Holy Cross, 7:15.390
UW Lineup – Coxswain Dominic Schuster, Hunter Kokkinen, Jack Wagner, Alexander Schwartz, Bergen Peters
