The Tufts men’s rowing team won the Points Trophy team championship and the second varsity national championship on May 31 at the Intercollegiate Rowing Association (IRA) Division III Championships regatta on Cooper River in Pennsauken, New Jersey.

Trinity College were 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, 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 went toe-to-toe against Williams College in the 2V8 Grand Final, trailing the Ephs by small margins at the 1000- and 1500-meter checkpoints, but winning it at the finish line with a 5:53.056 mark, three-tenths of a second ahead of Williams. It’s the second straight year that the Jumbos won the Graf Cup.

The 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. Eight-tenths of a second separated the Jumbos and the Trinity 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 saw 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 on May 31. 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.