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The Orange dropped one spot to No. 4 nationally in the second Intercollegiate Rowing Coaches Association/Intercollegiate Rowing Association men’s heavyweight poll of the season. The top two teams remained the same, No. 1 California and No. 2 Yale, with Washington leapfrogging Syracuse into No. 3.

This weekend, SU travels to Redwood Shores, California, for a trio of head-to-head races to open the season in the Pac-12 Challenge. Syracuse faces No. 6 Northeastern and No. 12 Wisconsin on Saturday, April 8. The following day, the Orange will race the defending champions, California.

Northeastern rose a spot from No. 7 last week while Wisconsin fell two spots from No. 10 in the preseason polls. Syracuse finished fifth in last year’s IRA Grand Final and returned all eight oarsmen and its coxswain from last year’s varsity 8.