The Princeton heavyweights picked up its only medal of the IRA national championships in the varsity four and added wins in the freshman eight petite final and the varsity eight third-level final to complete the 2008-09 racing season.
 
Both the varsity four and the open four made grand finals on Lake Natoma in Sacramento, Calif. While Eastern rivals Wisconsin, Harvard and Georgetown were in the varsity eight field, California and Washington turned out to be the toughest foes for the Tigers.
 
Princeton was in third after the first split, trailing both Washington and California by about one second. The Tigers made a move on the Huskies by the midway point and were .61 of a second behind for the silver medal.
California pulled away for the win during the middle thousand meters, while Washington used a strong final sprint to hold off the Tigers for the silver.
California won the race in 6:32.65, while Washington placed second in 6:34.00. Princeton grabbed the bronze in 6:38.19, more than three seconds faster than Wisconsin (6:41.70).
 
The open four, which needed the repechage to advance to the grand final, did not have enough to truly challenge for a medal position. By the midway point of the race, Princeton was nearly seven full seconds outside of third and was locked in a showdown with Syracuse for fifth. Princeton held a half-second lead over the Orange with 500 meters remaining, but an impressive final sprint by Syracuse moved it past Princeton for fifth.
Washington won the event in 6:35.48, while Princeton finished sixth in 6:56.14.
 
The freshman eight may have been disappointed not to reach the grand final, but it quickly turned its focus to the petite final and an exciting showdown with the Syracuse Orange. Princeton went out in the fastest opening split of the field (1:27.82) to gain the early edge and held a .6 of a second lead over Syracuse with 500 meters remaining. Both teams pushed hard over the final 500, but Princeton had enough to hold on for victory with a time of 6:04.61. Syracuse took second in 6:05.16, while Northeastern edged Stanford for third in a time of 6:09.33.
 
The varsity eight, which came into the IRAs ranked 17th nationally, cruised to victory in the C-level final to finish 13th overall. Princeton opened up more than a two-second edge through 500 meters by starting with a split of
1:28.67 and held more than a four-second lead at the midway point. Navy ended up cutting slightly into that advantage, but Princeton easily won the C-level final in 6:07.35; the Midshipmen defeated George Washington for second in 6:11.12.