Closing out the men’s fall season was the 2016 Rutgers Fall Classic, in New Brunswick, NJ on the Raritan River. Joining the men at the annual Fall Classic were the U.S. Naval Academy Heavyweight and Lightweight squads, Drexel University, and Rutgers University. Racing conditions proved fair, with temperatures in the mid 50’s, abundant sunshine, and some a little wind.
The Freshmen Men finished their fall campaign showing great progress from their first. The Bucknell “A” crew, composed of John Robertshaw, David Dayya, Jack Gallagher, David Sullivan, Caleb Choi, Matt McLaughlin, Matt Brown, Joon Shin, and coxed by Cami Berlin finished in a time of 13:29, just over 30 seconds off Drexel’s A and B crews. The Bucknell “B” boat, composed of Andrew Back, Tom Lanphier, Matt LaRouche, Alex Herman, Sam Jacob, Phil Thompson, Alex Seel, Solomon Wise, and coxed by Zack Schiffer finished in a time of 13:45, just 1 second off the top crew from Rutgers and 30 seconds ahead of Rutger’s “B” crew. Bucknell would combine to finish in a total time of 27:14, good for 4th overall.
Due to illness and injury Bucknell was unable to put out fifth varsity 4. Bucknell rowers Duncan Ragland ’19 and Chad Adam ’20, joined forces with extra rowers from Rutgers and Navy to form a composite 8, which would finish in a time of 14:52.
The Varsity Men battled strong competition and finished 5th behind the Naval Academy Heavyweights and Lightweights, Drexel, and Rutgers. The “A” Four finished would finish in 8th position with a time of 14:30, Bucknell “B” finished 18 seconds later in 15th place, with Bucknell “C” and “D” finishing in 19th and 21st, with times of 15:11 and 15:37 respectively. Bucknell “A” was made up of Billy Pinamont ’17, Thomas Marth ’19, Drew Stonnington ’19, Ryan McSherry ’19, and was coxed by Henry Leonardi ’18. Bucknell “B” was raced by Nick Barpoulis ’17, Sam Jubb ’17, John Leasure ’19, Lucas Colagrossi ‘17, and was coxed by Nicole Finan ‘17. Bucknell “C” was made up of Gary Tse ’19, Chris Bowdler ’19, Gunnar Vorwerk ’19, Mike Birosak ’18, and was coxed by Emilee Bae ’18. Bucknell “D” was rowed by Nick Huang ’19, Dillon LaFata ’18, Ryan Wang ’19, Dabreon Darby ’19, and was coxed by Cami Berlin ’19.
The men will now transition into a conditioning season before the onset of Spring racing. With a challenging schedule approaching each day will be a way to challenge each other and get faster. The Bucknell Men will return to the water in January for their winter training camp in Orlando, FL.