This past Sunday the Bucknell Men competed at the National Invitational Rowing Championship on Lake Quinsigamond, in Worcester, MA. In driving wind and scattered showers, the Bison’s performance was headlined by the Varsity Four, which walked away with silver medals. Bucknell also earned a 5th place finish in the freshmen eight, a 7th place finish in the second varsity eight, an 8th place finish in the third varsity eight, and a 9th place finish in the varsity eight.
The varsity eight was the first race on the day and only the top two eights from their heat would move on to the grand final. The 1V got off to a very slow start and was down on the whole field through the first quarter of the race. Finding a rhythm, Bucknell started to move back up on the field, but strong entries from Michigan, Wesleyan, and Washington College checked their progress. The 1V would cross the line in 4th, which relegated them to the Petite Final. Their petite final would go roughly the same way, a very slow start saw the Bison fall of the pace early, before finding a rhythm and moving back into the field. A strong surge from Bucknell saw them move into second place, but a great sprint from Boston College moved the bison back down to a 3rd place finish. The 1V was rowed by 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 drew a very strong heat and knew they would have to row a terrific race to advance to the grand final. The 2V started very strongly, moving up with the leaders through the first half of the race. In the 2nd half of the race however, the Bison began to fade, and slipped back to 4th (qualifying them for the petite final). In their petite final the 2V approached their race with the same strategy, going out fast and hard. This time they held onto their lead over a strong charging Trinity crew, ultimately winning the petite final. The 2V was rowed by Nick Barpoulis ’17, John Morcos ’19, Sam Wiley ’16, Thomas Marth ’19, Mike Pallotta ’18, Andrew Vinnik ’17, Duncan Ragland ’19, Lucas Colagrossi ’17, and was coxed by Henry Leonardi ’18.
With three boats advancing to the final, the third varsity eight were involved in a tough fight with Michigan for the final qualifying spot, but could not hang on to their pace in the last quarter of the race. In the petite final the 3V rowed a much stronger race, holding pace with Hobart until the last 500 meters, before ultimately finishing in 2nd place (ahead of Tufts and Boston College). The 3V was rowed by Gary Tse ’19, Mike Birosak ’18, Jacopo Baldi ’19, Andrew Carstensen ’19, Chris Bowdler ’19, Ryan Wang ’19, Nick Huang ’19, Nick Paray ’19, and was coxed by Robert Bellantoni ’19.
The freshmen eight would place in a close third to advance out of their morning heat, just behind Tufts and RIT. Moving into the final the Bison ended up on the far lane, and in a driving head wind threw everything they had into the first half of the race to try and hold with the leaders. Around the halfway mark things proved too great for the freshmen, and they narrowly got beat out by Boston College to finish in 5th place. The freshmen eight was rowed by David Ruf, Ryan McSherry, Kyle Shtern, Darbeon Darby, Andrew Stonnington, Alex Owen, Grant Accurso, Gunnar Vorwerk, and was coxed by Nicole Finan.
The varsity four easily advanced out of their morning heat, setting up a great race with WPI in the final. A strong start in their heat was not replicated for their final, and the Bison started down on the field. Bucknell methodically worked their way back up through the field, but could close the gap on WPI, finishing in second place. The V4 was rowed by Pat Long ’18, James Koenigsberg, Christian Daugherty ’18, Nate Coffin ’16, and was coxed by Emilee Bae ’18.
The Bucknell Men will be competing at the Dad Vail Regatta, on the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia, PA, this coming Friday and Saturday. We hope to see families and friends there!