The Hobart rowing team will be back in action this weekend, May 8-9, when it heads to Cherry Hill, New Jersey, for the Dad Vail Regatta. The event is a qualifier for the Intercollegiate Rowing Association Championships in Gold River, California.
 
The Dad Vail is the largest collegiate regatta in the United States. Now in its 87th year, the regatta will feature 318 entries from 72 clubs across 45 different events. Originally contested in Virginia, the regatta was moved to New Jersey in 2023. Hobart will send three eights to the 2,000-meter Cooper River course.
 
The Statesmen's third varsity eight, which is ranked 21st in the IRCA/IRA 3V8 poll, will be on the water first. The 3V8 time trial is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. All nine boats from the time trials will advance to the semifinals later in the afternoon. The semifinals will be broken into two heats. The top three finishers from each heat will advance to the grand final and compete for the Bob & Mazie Sutor Memorial Cup. Hobart's 3V8 is powered by Isabel Goldblatt-Hamilton, Jayden Dasher, Estel Justus, Panagiotis Giannakopoulos, Fletcher Grantham, William Walker, Cameron Nixon, Braden Hendrickson and Cayden Hill.
 
The men's second varsity eight time trials are scheduled to begin at 10:15 a.m. Hobart's 2V8 is 25th in this week's IRCA/IRA poll. In the 2V8, the top 12 boats advance to the semifinals, with the remaining boats competing in the third level final. The 2V semifinals are set for 3 p.m. The top three in each semifinal advance to the grand final will compete for the Bayer Trophy on Saturday. Hobart will be represented by Ellie Dial, Trevor Beatley, Sam Peeler, James Faulkner, Alan Marusic, Nicholas Short, Álvaro Paulin, Clement Newbold and Henry McComb.
 
The varsity eights will round out racing on Friday morning. The time trials are set to start at 10:20 a.m. Like in the 2V, the top 12 finishers will advance to the semifinals, while the remaining boats will compete in the third level final. The semifinals are scheduled for a 5 p.m. start on Friday evening. The top three boats in each semifinal will compete for the O'Brien-Hanna Trophy on Saturday afternoon. Hobart's 1V, which is manned by Sam Hyman, Owen O'Connor, Charles Watroba, Colin Mester, Kiré Richardson, Chase Sneddon, James Feeley IV, Carlo Capitanucci and Tibor Teleki, is receiving votes in the IRCA/IRA Rowing Poll.
 
The first four IRA eligible finishers in the varsity eight race earn a spot at the national championships. Those teams' second and third varsity eights will also be eligible for the IRA regatta.