Stanford men’s crew was hard to recognize yesterday at the Intercollegiate Rowing Association (IRA) Regatta. The team went through a position switch-up in recent weeks, but that wasn’t what surprised the East-Coast competition.

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The No. 8 Stanford men’s crew team notched an excellent 5:36.588 to finish just behind heavily favored No. 2 Harvard at the IRA Regatta. The Cardinal will move on to face the top-ranked, undefeated Huskies today at noon EST in the IRA championship semifinals. #gallery http://daily.stanford.edu/image/full/7638
Bernard Bluhm

The No. 8 Stanford men’s crew team notched an excellent 5:36.588 to finish just behind heavily favored No. 2 Harvard at the IRA Regatta. The Cardinal will move on to face the top-ranked, undefeated Huskies today at noon EST in the IRA championship semifinals.

The No. 8 Cardinal challenged second-ranked Harvard to the final second — 0.227 seconds, to be exact — in the first-round heat, as Stanford began a promising run for the national title.

Though the Crimson came into the heat as an easy favorite, the underdog Cardinal kept up, staying within a quarter of a second from the first 500 meters of the 2,000-meter race. The eights were even down the stretch, and according to Stanford head coach Craig Amerkhanian, it was closer than the 5:36.361 and 5:36.588 stop times indicate — less than a foot separated Stanford and Harvard.

“We both advanced, though, so it’s not an issue,” Amerkhanian said. “It’s only a confidence boost for us to know that we can race a quality opponent like Harvard down the stretch.”

Stanford outdid its closest competitor, No. 10 Michigan, by nearly eight seconds, as the Wolverines notched a 5:48.282 time and a spot in the consolation repechage.

“It was all mental,” Amerkhanian said. “We came in with a positive attitude and a solid plan, and we executed. This puts us in a good position for the semifinals.”

Coming out of the gate strong, the Cardinal garnered the third-fastest time of the day, behind only Harvard and its top-ranked, Pacific-10 Conference rival, Washington. The Huskies were a narrow 0.41 seconds ahead of the Crimson, clocking in at 5:35.951 to win their heat.

Today, Stanford will have the chance to face undefeated Washington once again after falling short of the Huskies twice this season, at the Stanford-hosted Windermere Classic and at the Pac-10 Championships. Also in the Cardinal’s noon EST semifinal heat are Michigan (advancing after winning its repechage), No. 5 Princeton, No. 11 Cornell and No. 15 Northeastern.

The Huskies are the team to beat — or at least to keep up with — but Stanford looks to compete at its own newly quickened pace.

“Three advance, so we just need to race our own race,” Amerkhanian said. “If we make it all about Washington, we’ll get out of our plan. Tomorrow’s just about building off of today and taking the intensity we had to a new level.”