GOLD RIVER, CA (May 30, 2026) -- The Tufts University men's rowing squad finished action for the season at the 2026 Intercollegiate Rowing Association (IRA) Championships Saturday afternoon at Lake Natoma in Gold River, California, placing fourth as a squad after fourth place finishes in both the first and second varsity Saturday.
The Jumbos qualified for the Grand Finals on Friday afternoon in the 1V8+ and 2V8+, and were looking to repeat as points champions after the title in 2025.
In the 2V8+ race, Tufts fell behind early and had to play catch up for the entire race, as it moved from fourth at the first marker to just behind the second-place boat of Trinity with 500 meters to go. Trinity would fight off the Jumbos, while Wesleyan also pushed past Tufts into third place as the Jumbos finished fourth with a time of 6:09.57.
The time was 4.74 seconds behind winner Williams College, while Trinity and Wesleyan rounded out the time three. Tufts edged Bates College by seven seconds, while Colby College was sixth just under 13 seconds behind the Jumbos.
The "national championship" race would be next for Tufts in the first varsity, and Trinity College would repeat as national champions as the Bantams edged rivals Wesleyan University by 0.15 seconds for the national crown. Williams was 2.6 seconds behind Trinity, with the Jumbos taking fourth place 6.47 seconds back with a time of 6:01.24.
In the race, Tufts was right behind the leaders in third place after the first 500 meters and was still within striking distance in third at the halfway mark. The Jumbos were just over a second behind Wesleyan at the 1500 meter mark, leading Williams, but the top two boats pulled away while the Ephs also caught Tufts to push the Jumbos into fourth.
Tufts ended up in fourth place in the points trophy standings with 40.5 points, 12 points behind Trinity College for the top spot. Wesleyan was second with 48 points, using the 1V8 finish as the tiebreaker with Williams and its 48 points. Bates was fifth with 36 points, and Marietta took sixth with 30 points.
The Jumbos also had a 1V4+ boat finishing action on Saturday, as coxswain
Lucas Resnik, Oliver Sjoholm,
Yahir Ramos,
Charlie Aber, and
Hayden Stone were sixth in their "D" final with a time of 7:00.50. The Jumbos were slow out of the gate, five seconds the fifth-place boat behind at the first marker, but rallied and pulled to just a second at the line. Overall, Tufts finished 24th of 29 varsity four boats, most of which were Division I crews.
The Jumbos have now finished in the top four of the IRA Points Trophy standings the last three seasons, and four of the last five years.
The Jumbos first varsity boat was made up of coxswain
Aidan Keusch, along with stroke
Patrick Moran,
Theo Balavoine,
Vince Mezzanotte,
Peter McLaughlin,
Peter Conard,
Maxwell Rosenberger,
Mark Machle,
Peter McCormick.
The 2V8+ boat was coxswain
Jamie Forman, stroke
Owen McKendry,
JT Machle,
Harrison Sweet,
Lev Tolkoff,
Xander Mesires,
Ben Sackrey,
Seamus Ruiseal,
Alex Flynn.
The races today were the final ones as Director of Rowing and head men's rowing coach for
George Munger, who is stepping out of coaching further his education at the end of the season.
The Jumbo men's and women's program grew to new and incredible heights under the direction of Munger, and the Tufts Athletics program thanks him for his hard work and incredible dedication to the Tufts rowing programs.
--JUMBOS--
