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As Dad Vail champions,
the Bucknell freshmen travelled to the IRA National Championship
regatta to close out the '06-'07 season. Their season began 10 months
earlier in Lewisburg, PA. As nine Bucknellians without any prior rowing experience, they
met Coach Paul Bugenhagen with no realization of the miles he would
inspire them to row and the medals he would lead them to win. After
a fun and exciting year that included races against
Ivy League competitors, Patriot League rivals,
and mid-Atlantic neighbors, these Bucknellians capped the amazing
success they had all year with a trip to Cherry Hill to race
against the best freshmen crews in the country
at the IRA regatta.
See pictures of Bucknell competing at IRA here (from row2k.com).
Bucknell Mens crew has competed in the IRA in 1995 in the
lightweight varsity 8 event, in 2001 with a men's pair,
and now in 2007 in the freshmen 8 event. With each successive
trip to the national championships, Bucknell has moved onward and upward to
more challenging competition and more success and next year already looks
to continue that trend. The BCA would
like to thank these nine freshmen for the hard work they put in
all year and congratulate them on the victories they have achieved.
Here's to more in '07-'08!
'Ray Bucknell!
'Ray 2007 Dad Vail Freshmen 8 Champions!
As Dad Vail champions, Bucknell will face Eastern Sprints champions Brown University,
PAC-10 champions UC-Berkeley, Patriot League rivals Holy Cross, as well as many other exceptional crews from across the country.
This will be Bucknell men's crew's first entry in the IRA National Championship regatta since 2001. Bucknell's last men's 8 entry
in the IRA regatta was the lightweight varsity 8 in 1995. All alumni are invited to attend and witness Bucknell men's crew's debut
on the national rowing scene at the conclusion of a record-breaking '06-'07 rowing season.
The Bucknell freshmen 8 with 2nd-year coach Paul Bugenhagen receiving the Lev Brett Bowl as Dad Vail champions!
May 12th, 2007 is a
day that will go down in the history books as a great moment for
Bucknell Crew. On this day in Philadelphia, PA, nine freshmen from
Lewisburg lined up at the starting line of the Freshmen
Heavyweight Eight grand final of the Dad Vail Regatta and emerged
victorious 6 minutes and 4.91 seconds later! These nine freshmen
delighted all of the parents and alumni in attendance with a
convincing victory over the University of Delaware and St.
Joseph's University from their very first stroke. And in those
short, but action-packed, 6 minutes those nine freshmen won the
first ever medal of any kind for Bucknell men's crew in a
heavyweight eight event at Dad Vail, and the first ever GOLD medal
for Bucknell men's crew in any event at Dad Vail!
On their path to the Dad Vail medals dock, the 2007 Bucknell men's
Freshmen 8 won at the Murphy Cup regatta by over 5 seconds, at the
Marietta College Invitational Regatta by 12 seconds, against
Boston College and the University of Rhode Island by over 30
seconds, and against Army and Penn State by 9 seconds. And that
was just against other freshmen! Add to that, victories against
the junior varsity 8's of Boston College, URI, and Lehigh and a
strong second place performance at the Patriot Challenge regatta,
falling only to Holy Cross, and the Bucknell men's freshmen 8 had
an impressive resume going into the Dad Vail Regatta.
Seeded 8th coming into the Dad Vail, the Bucknell freshmen were
determined to prove their seeding underestimated. On Friday,
Bucknell won their heat by 9 seconds over Purdue University and
the University of Maryland, with a time of 6:13.18, giving them
the fastest qualifying time from all of the heats. Saturday
morning, the freshmen continued their winning streak in the
semi-finals with a time of 5:59.9, fast enough to beat the second
place crew Brock University as well as to beat the times of the
other semi-final winners, St Joe's and Delaware.
See pictures of theBucknell freshmen at the start of the Dad Vail finals here (from row2k.com).
In the finals, Bucknell faced Purdue and Brock again as well as
the determined crews from St. Joe's, Delaware, and Grand Valley
State. As the parents and alumni watched excitedly, these 9
freshmen performed confidently and flawlessly, beating Delaware to
the line by 2.3 seconds, nearly open water! Full results here (from row2k.com).
The newest addition to the Bucknell fleet, the John Skotedis, approaching the Dad Vail medals dock.
George Rockett will
compete against 29 other 18-year-old rowers from some of the best
high school and college crew teams in the country for a chance to
compete in the Junior World Championships in Beijing, China in
August. George came to Bucknell in August, 2006 with no prior
rowing experience but leaves Lewisburg at the close of his
freshmen year with the a new men's team 2k record of 6:08.1 and as
the first Bucknellian ever invited to the Junior National Team
Selection Camp.
Read the press release here:
http://www.usrowing.org/News_Media/PressReleases/detail.aspx?nws_lKey=296
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