Gonzaga men rule Petite Finals during IRA nationals

CAMDEN, N.J. – Gonzaga University’s men’s varsity 4 and men’s freshmen 4 both won Saturday’s Petite Finals at the 103rd Intercollegiate Rowing Association Championships at Cooper River.

The victories gave the Bulldogs’ boats seventh place. The top six teams were in the Grand Finals, with Stanford winning the varsity 4 and Temple the freshmen 4.

GU’s varsity 4, a ninth-place finisher last year, completed the 2,000-meter course in 6 minutes, 41.71 seconds for a comfortable margin on runner-up Long Beach State (6:43.14).

Local athletes on the team were Spokane senior Pat Haffey and Post Falls senior Nathan Wilson. Coxswain Erin Palmiter, Connor Barry and Matthew Wernette rounded out the squad.

The freshmen 4 finished in 6:56.02 for a 3-second gap on Hobart (N.Y.) College. The Bulldogs took 15th place last year.

Team members were: coxswain Joan Aubry, Joe Dudley, Warren North, Brett Boissevain and Scott McCoy.

Defending champion Harvard rallied in the final 300 meters to defeat Princeton and capture the varsity 8 Grand Finals. Harvard (5:31.68) was the only team to defeat the Tigers (5:32.94) this season. California finished third, Washington fourth.