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Dear Alumni and Friends of Bucknell Men’s Crew,
Spring is underway and so is the racing. This spring the men have 4 eights traveling every week on their own trailer. That's right, our fundraising goal has been achieved! The Bucknell men's crew team has their own trailer (and tent, below) and can travel wherever they need to compete against the best teams they can find.
This spring those teams have included UNC and Penn State in Raleigh, North Carolina and Syracuse University in some classic spring break racing at the Columbia, South Carolina spring break site. Victories against UNC and Penn State were across the board; while Syracuse provided a tougher challenge but every bit as successful. Every race against Syracuse was a close fight with the Bucknell varsity winning the final piece outright.
At the Murphy Cup, the first freshman 8 won their heat to earn their lane in the center of the course. In the final, they cleared Drexel and Army but fell to the UPenn Lightweights, Delaware, and La Salle. The JV8 got third in their heat behind UPenn and St. Joe's and 5th in the final, beating Army. The V8 raced to 2nd place in their heat, 0.29 seconds behind Loyola University. Saving their best for the last race of the day, the V8 was lined up against Fordham, Loyola, UPenn lightweights from the Eastern Sprints, and last year's Vail finalists Temple and Jacksonville. Bucknell put forth an amazing race, breaking 6 minutes, redeeming their heats loss to Loyola, and nipping at the heels of Temple. Jacksonville won with Temple 2.4 seconds back and Bucknell only 1.8 seconds off Temple in 3rd place. It was the first medal ever won by a Bucknell V8 at this familiar event.
Against Brock University and Ithaca College on the Cayuga Inlet in Ithaca, New York, the V8 won impressively coming from behind to defeat Brock the 2008 Canadian National Champions in the V8. The first freshmen 8 dominated their race by 14 seconds and the JV8 beat Ithaca but lost to Brock. The second freshman 8, a scrappy bunch, cut the corner which unfortunately cost them a 3 second penalty, but they could have cut 4 more corners and still beaten Ithaca. They won their event with a time of 7:34.4 in the headwind.
At the Knecht Cup, the V8 won their heat (beating Loyola again), the JV8 placed 3rd in their heat, and the first freshman 8 won their heat. In semi-final action, the first freshman 8 won and the V8 finished in 2nd place half a second behind St. Joe's in what was undoubtedly the best race of the day with 5 boats gunning for the line together. Finally getting on the water in their straight-final Saturday morning, the second freshman 8 placed 2nd to Marietta College. The first freshman 8 finished in 2nd place by only 0.8 seconds after some confusion at the start in nasty conditions. This was a tough loss to Rutgers University after the freshmen had won all of their qualifying races. The JV8 finished their racing for the weekend in 5th place, while the varsity event provided a thrilling finish with Temple just ahead of the other 5 crews all within 4 seconds of each other. Unfortunately, Bucknell was at the end of that 4 second pack, but it was a close finish and we know Bucknell will prevail when next they meet.
This past weekend, the men took their trailer back to the Cooper River in New Jersey where they had been invited to join their first EARC dual race, a race between Georgetown and Holy Cross. According to row2k, the conditions were “15-17 mph tailwind, heavy chop, very rough conditions throughout all racing”. A white capping tailwind is never pleasant. In the rough conditions the men fought hard in their 4 events but came up short against Georgetown; though the V8 made sure to dispatch Patriot League foe Holy Cross. This was the first defeat of a Holy Cross V8 in the 25 year history of the Bison rowing program! And a strong rallying statement by the V8 after their disappointment in the Knecht Cup final.
Dad Vail Championships
The men have one more tune-up before the Dad Vail Regatta against Marietta College, a perennial Vails contender, at home in a scrimmage format.
The Dad Vail Regatta will take place May 8th and 9th in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Varsity and Freshman 8 are currently Top 10 ACRA teams and they are expected to be seeded crews heading into the Dad Vail. After a season of racing firsts and solid victories over perennial powerhouses like Virginia, Rutgers, Hobart, St. Joseph’s, Marietta, and Holy Cross this is shaping up to be a really exciting year and the Dad Vail could be really spectacular for this young team and our program. All alumni are invited to cheer the team on and watch the men race into the Dad Vail grand finals for the 3rd time in the last 4 years with possible medal- and cup-winning racing within reach!
Ray’ Bucknell!
 It is our hope that this simple format will increase avenues of communication amongst alumni and friends of the men’s rowing program and provide an opportunity to arrange informal and formal gatherings around races and other Bucknell related events. If you would like to contribute to the newsletter, please contact Jeremy Urban ’02 at jeremy.urban @ gmail.com.
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