Issue #5

The Power 10: Men's 2V8+, entering championship season

Wednesday, April 29, 2026·5 min read
Christopher Kilner@ClassicCK↗
Chief Rowing Analyst
Model
1
NEW
St. Joseph's Prep

RPI 2135 (CI 1870–2405). Won the King's Crown men's 2V A Final on April 26 (6:12.3) by five seconds over Greenwich. The widest interval in the boat class — four rated races and one marquee win.

#4↓ OVRTD
2
NEW
Kent

RPI 2131 (CI 1916–2348). Won the Noxontown men's 2V A Final on April 25 (4:42.9), a clean NEIRA result. Sit a fraction below St. Joe's on mean and inside their interval.

#6↓ OVRTD
3
NEW
Greenwich

RPI 2038 (CI 1842–2216). Took both days of the Mercer Lake men's 2V Sprints (6:01.9 on April 19); ran second to St. Joe's at King's Crown by five seconds.

#7↓ OVRTD
4
NEW
Belen Jesuit

RPI 2010 (CI 1820–2195). Won the FSRA Sweep men's 2V on April 26 (4:34.6) — the strongest Florida result of the spring.

#12↓ OVRTD
5
NEW
Saugatuck

RPI 1952 (CI 1752–2131). Won the King's Crown men's 2V B Final after a strong Mercer Lake run (2nd both days).

#13↓ OVRTD
6
NEW
Yorktown

RPI 1951 (CI 1789–2129). VASRA's leading 2V entry; raced inside the regional circuit through April.

#27↓ OVRTD
7
NEW
Marin

RPI 1913 (CI 1768–2057). The strongest Southwest 2V crew on the list; six rated races on the books.

#5↑ UNDRTD
8
NEW
Row America Rye

RPI 1911 (CI 1720–2080). Took 3rd in the King's Crown men's 2V A Final on April 26; won the men's 2V at Mercer Lake on April 18.

#10↓ OVRTD
9
NEW
Atlanta Junior

RPI 1871 (CI 1755–1980). Took silver in the Dogwood Juniors men's 2V Grand Final on April 26.

#9
10
NEW
PNRA/Mercer

RPI 1850 (CI 1701–2008). Seven rated races — the most in the top ten — and a 4th at the Mercer Lake men's 2V Sprints on April 19.

#20↓ OVRTD

The men's 2V8+ is the boat class on this site where the model is the least sure of itself. The top four crews have RPI intervals more than 200 points wide. Three of them have only four rated races on the books. The most-rated entry sits tenth.

That is not a flaw in the model. It is the boat class describing itself. Second eights race less often and against narrower fields than firsts; what data exists is uneven, and the rankings reflect that honestly rather than stamping a confident order on top of it.

St. Joseph's Prep sit at the top after winning the King's Crown men's 2V A Final on April 26 by five seconds over Greenwich. Kent, in second, sits inside St. Joe's interval and won the Noxontown men's 2V A Final the same weekend. The model is reporting both crews as candidates for the top spot. The width of the bars is the model's polite way of saying so.

PosTeamTimeRPI Δ
1St. Joseph's Prep6:12.337-
2Greenwich6:17.887-
3Row America Rye6:19.323-
4Cincinnati Juniors6:36.149-

The list

1. St. Joseph's Prep

The King's Crown men's 2V A Final on April 26 (6:12.3) is the single most consequential 2V result the model has scored this spring. St. Joe's beat Greenwich by five seconds and Row America Rye by seven, against the deepest 2V field assembled this year. Their RPI 2135 is the highest in the boat class on the mean. Their interval — 1870 to 2405 — is also the widest, a 535-point span. Four rated races. One headline win. The model is placing them first and warning you, in the same breath, that the bar could move.

Latest · Apr 26, 20261946St. Joseph's Prep1923Kent

2. Kent

Sit four points behind St. Joe's on the mean and entirely inside their interval. Kent's 2V won the Noxontown A Final on April 25 (4:42.9) — the same weekend their varsity took silver in the men's V8 A Final — and led NEIRA's spring 2V circuit cleanly. The model is treating St. Joe's-Kent as a coin flip with a slight lean.

3. Greenwich

Took both days of the Mercer Lake men's 2V Sprints in mid-April (6:01.9 on April 19, ahead of Saugatuck and Row America Rye), and finished second to St. Joe's at King's Crown a week later. Six rated races, an interval narrower than the top two — the model is more confident in the placement, less convinced of the ceiling.

4. Belen Jesuit

Belen Jesuit won the FSRA Sweep men's 2V A Final on April 26 (4:34.6) and ran second the day before in the heats. They are the strongest Florida 2V crew on the list and one of two top-10 crews who have not raced anyone east of FSRA this spring. The interval (1820 to 2195) reflects that.

5. Saugatuck

Saugatuck ran second to Greenwich at the Mercer Lake men's 2V on both days and won the King's Crown men's 2V B Final on April 26. Their 2V profile is steady — five rated races, all close to the top of their league — and the interval (1752 to 2131) places them squarely in the cluster.

6. Yorktown

VASRA's leading 2V entry. Yorktown have raced inside the regional circuit through April; they have not yet shared a course with any of the crews ranked above them. The model places them sixth on league prior and clean intra-VASRA results. Stotesbury changes that.

7. Marin

Marin anchor the Southwest 2V picture with six rated races and an interval (1768 to 2057) that is among the wider in the top ten. Their San Diego Crew Classic week was strong; everything since has been intra-Southwest.

8. Row America Rye

Took 3rd in the King's Crown men's 2V A Final on April 26 (6:19.3) — beating Saugatuck head-to-head — and won the men's 2V at Mercer Lake on April 18. The model has them eighth on rating but rising on data: another A Final result and the interval will close fast.

9. Atlanta Junior

Took silver in the Dogwood Juniors men's 2V Grand Final on April 26. Atlanta Junior's 2V interval (1755 to 1980) is the second-tightest in the bottom half — five rated races against opposition the model knows.

10. PNRA/Mercer

The most-rated 2V on the list — seven races since September — and a 4th at the Mercer Lake men's 2V Sprints on April 19. PNRA/Mercer's 2V is the steadiest entry in the bottom half; their interval is the lowest, but it is also the narrowest.

What's missing

The men's 2V8+ field will look very different by mid-May. Most of the crews on this list have raced their 2V four to seven times all season. The SRAA, Stotesbury, the Mid-Atlantic Junior Championships, and the IRA all run 2V brackets, and a single A Final there is worth more, in posterior terms, than the rest of the regular season. Expect the top of this table to compress by half once those races land.

Discussion

Sign in to join the discussion.
No comments yet. Start the discussion below.