Former Egg Harbor Township rower Hadley Irvin heading to nationals with UMass teammates

By DAVE O’SULLIVAN Publisher When you row for the University of Massachusetts, you have to be tough. Much of the spring season is spent practicing and competing in cold weather, sleet, rain, snow. This year, the Minutewomen could barely get any time on the water because everything was iced over. They were forced to take road trips to Philadelphia just to get some work in. Lack of time on the water makes the accomplishments of former Egg Harbor Township standout Hadley Irvin and her UMass teammates even more impressive. Rowing in the second-eight boat, Irvin — whose sister, Hunter, currently is a star pitcher on the EHT softball team — and her teammates took home three gold medals and a bronze at the recent Dad Vail regatta in Philadelphia. The boat also competed at the Atlantic-10 Conference Championships, where the Minutewomen qualified for nationals, which will be held May 29-31 in Sacramento, Calif. “It’s really cool. You get to see so many things you never thought you would see. I’ve never been to California, and flying across the country with my teammates is definitely really exciting. We get to compete against the top crews in the country, so we’re excited to show them what we’ve got,” Irvin said. Irvin admitted this winter was a tough one to get through. The Boston area saw record snowfall, and iced-over rivers forced UMass to do a lot of indoor training on rowing machines. Former Egg Harbor Township High School rower Hadley Irvin and her UMass teammates qualified for nationals, which will be held this weekend in California. (Submitted photo) “We had an extremely long winter. We had a pretty successful fall. I was in the club eight boat at the Head of the Charles and we took home second behind Brown University, which was a huge victory. That was a really big deal for us. It was definitely the strongest race I’ve ever had,” Irvin said. “After that, we continued to train during the winter, indoors. It got pretty frozen up here. We row on the Connecticut River and that was frozen until about late March. There was about 16 inches of ice, so it took us a long time to get back on the water. That was a big difference from last year, we lost a lot of water time and that put us at a disadvantage. We took a trip to Philly, which we don’t usually do. We were rowing through ice storms and snow, but it was worth it to get back on the water. “We were erging for a really long time this winter and working hard in the weight room, just doing whatever we could inside to get away from the snow.” Irvin said she and her teammates are eager for the opportunity to compete against the nation’s best, including powerhouses such as University of Southern California. “I think we will have a strong showing. UMass is still making a name for itself nationally. We’re pretty well known on the east coast and with the southern schools, but I don’t think California schools like USC and Stanford really know what we have,” Irvin said. “So it’s pretty exciting to show them how hard we have been working and that we are starting to make a name for ourselves.” In her second year of collegiate crew, Irvin said she is realizing just how difficult the sport is at this level, and how much hard work it takes to be the best. “It’s a lot more difficult (than high school crew). The races are shorter in high school and in college they add on another 500 meters,” Irvin said. “The races are longer and the girls are stronger, and really muscular. Every school has that top boat that is really hard to make it onto. It’s crazy because you are rowing against the best girls in the country. Some of these girls are on the U.S. national team, and it’s crazy to think I’m rowing against girls who might end up going to the Olympics.” Contact Dave O’Sullivan: sully@acglorydays.com; on Twitter @GDsullysays [adsense]