The Bucknell Men continued their 2016 campaign this past weekend on the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia, PA. Joining the Bison were St. Joseph’s University, Temple University, and La Salle University. After a week of high winds and unrowable conditions back home, race day turned out to be reasonably pleasant. Temperatures were in the high 40’s with light winds and a slight drizzle.
The Varsity Eight kicked things off racing against St. Josephs. A back and forth contest saw both crews make moves, only to be countered again. St. Joes eventually put in a powerful move which saw them move out to a length lead, which they held until the end. Racing La Salle in the afternoon, Bucknell would have better fortunes. The Bison opened up an early lead over La Salle, and kept moving away slowly but steadily through the race, crossing the finish line 15 seconds ahead of La Salle. The 1V was made up of Doug Burney ’16, Mike Savage ’19, Sam Jubb ’17, Billy Pinamont ’17, Jack Shelton ’18, John Leasure ’19, Dillon LaFata ’18, Ryan Thompson ’16, and was coxed by Perry Hamilton ’18.
The Second Varsity Eight moved well against an experienced St. Joseph crew, but fell back as the race progressed, finishing just over a length behind the Hawks. In their second race of the day the Bison ran into a strong Temple crew. Bucknell could not find a rhythm in the race, and would fall to the Owls. The 2V was made up of John Morcos ’19, Pat Long ’18, Mike Pallotta ’18, Andrew Vinnik ’17, Duncan Ragland ’19, Thomas Marth ’19. Sam Wiley ’16, Lucas Colagrossi ’17, and was coxed by Henry Leonardi ’18.
The Third Varsity Eight had a rough start to the day. Racing against Bucknell’s Freshmen Eight and St. Joseph’s 3V, the 3V fell off the pace and could not quite recover, eventually finishing in 3rd. In their afternoon race, however, things were much improved. Attacking a strong Temple 3V, the Bison went out hard and fast, holding level with the Owls up until the halfway point. Temple’s strength proved a little too much in the final half of the race and they rowed out to a 10 second win. The 3V was made up of Nick Barpoulis ’17, James Koenigsberg ’18, Christian Daugherty ’18, Nate Coffin ’16, Luke Goodwin ’18, Ryan Wang ’19, Gary Tse ’19, Mike Birosak ’18, and was coxed by Robert Bellantoni ’19.
The Freshmen Eight started their day with a tight race with St. Joseph’s 3V. Both boats were level down the course, going stroke for stroke. A late push by the Hawks saw the 3V push out to a small lead, and the Bison couldn’t move back into it, falling by just under 2 seconds. In the afternoon the 1F started well against Temple, but could not keep pace with the Owls strong rhythm. The Temple 1F would win by around 14 seconds, with the Bison finishing another 15 seconds ahead of Temple’s 2F. The freshmen eight was made up of Alex Owen ’19, Dave Ruf ’19, Dabreon Darby ’19, Andrew Stonnington ’19, Ryan McSherry ’19, Jacopo Baldi ’19, Gunnar Vorwerk ’19, Grant Accurso ’19, and was coxed by Nicole Finan ’17.
The Freshmen Four participated in two of the more exciting races of the day. Against both St. Josephs and Temple, the Bison rowed out to a half-length lead, starting with a very hard and high cadence. In both cases the Bison could not sustain their speed in the second half of the race, finishing second. The Freshmen Four was composed of Andrew Carstensen ’19, Chris Bowdler ’19, Nick Paray ’19, Nick Huang ’19, and was coxed by Emilee Bae ’18.
The Bucknell Men will compete next week on Lake Mercer at the Knecht Cup. We hope to see everyone in West Windsor!