The Bucknell Men hosted their only home regatta of the spring season on Saturday, April 7th against Philadelphia rowing power Drexel University in Sunbury, Pa on the Susquehanna River.
The first event of the day was that of the Men’s Freshman 8+ which saw the Bison men in the lead for the first 1500 meters of the race over a heavily favored Drexel crew; however they were unable to maintain their lead and could not hold off the defending Murphy Cup champions – finishing 2.33 seconds behind in a very closely contested race.
The next event for the Bucknell Men was the Second Varsity 8+, in which the Bison were able to challenge in the first 500 meters for the lead against what is regarded as one of the fastest Second 8+’s on the east coast from Drexel. The Dragons took control by the half-way point in the race and went on to finish 22 seconds ahead of the Bison Second 8+.
The final contest of the day was that of the Varsity 8+’s, with Bucknell coming off of a dominant row at Rutgers and Drexel having their first race on the east coast since competing in the San Diego Crew Classic. In what was clearly the most tightly contested race of the day, both crews spent the first 1400 meters separated by no more than 2 seats (about 5 feet) until Drexel began to pull away in the strong headwind conditions in the final 500 meters to a final winning margin of only 1.8 seconds.
The Bucknell Men will now spend the week preparing for the Knecht Cup on April 14th-15th held in Camden, NJ where they will challenge familiar rivals Drexel, Marist, Temple and Trinity in what promises to be very close competition.