PENNSAUKEN, NJ (May 31, 2025) – The Tufts University men's rowing team won the Points Trophy team championship and the second varsity national championship today at the Intercollegiate Rowing Association (IRA) Division III Championships regatta on Cooper River.
Trinity College earns the official title of national champions by virtue of winning the first varsity race. The Jumbos were in contention for the national title before finishing a close second.
To take the Points Trophy title today, Tufts started by winning the second varsity race in a photo finish against Williams College. The Jumbos then secured the top team performance by earning second place in the first varsity race. That gave Tufts a team score of 51, ahead of runner-up Trinity College's 48. Williams College placed third (43.5). It's Tufts' first national Points Trophy title after tying for second last year.
The Jumbo second varsity wins the Norman Graf Cup as second varsity IRA DIII champions. Tufts would go toe-to-toe against Williams College in the 2V8 Grand Final today and the Jumbos would win by three-tenths of a second. Tufts trailed the Ephs by small margins at the 1000- and 1500-meter checkpoints, but won it at the finish line with a 5:53.056 mark. Williams came across in a 5:53.336 time. It's the second straight year that the Jumbos won the Graf Cup.
Today's second varsity line-up was coxswain
Jamie Forman, stroke
Charlie Guerra, 7-
JT Machle, 6-
Owen McKendry, 5-
Lev Tolkoff, 4-
Seamus Ruiseal, 3-
Miles Smith, 2-
Xander Mesires and bow
Mason Sibley.
Tufts then took the Points Trophy national championship outright with their runner-up finish in the first varsity Grand Final. The Jumbos had been third behind Trinity College and Bates College at the National Invitational Rowing Championships / NESCAC Championship on May 11. Along with those two teams, Wesleyan University had defeated Tufts at the New England Rowing Championships on May 3. However, today the Jumbos were right there with Trinity and ahead of Bates and Wesleyan. Eight-tenths of a second separated the Jumbos and the Bantams at the 1500-meter mark before Trinity was able to earn a half-length victory at the finish line. Tufts crossed at 5:42.030 to Trinity's 5:40.360 mark.
The Jumbo 1V8 today sat coxswain
Aidan Keusch, stroke
Patrick Moran, 7-
Peter McCormick, 6-
Harrison Sweet, 5-
Maxwell Rosenberger, 4-
Peter Conard, 3-
Max Landers, 2-
Mark Machle and bow
Theo Balavoine.
Tufts also had a varsity four boat racing in a fifth final at IRA's today. They were third of six in the race (6:46.790) which placed them 27th out of the 39 overall teams in the field. Coxswain
Lucas Resnik,
Alex Flynn,
Abe Nelson,
Ethan Seidner and
Hayden Stone competed for the Jumbos.
Today's success completes another strong season for Coach
George Munger's Jumbos. Tufts won the Points Trophy at NIRC and had their first-ever NIRC 1V8 podium finish with a third place.
--JUMBOS--
