Last Saturday the Bison made their return to the Mid-Atlantic Rowing Conference Championship. The Bison would place second overall in the team competition behind Marietta College, losing by one point. Despite the team loss individual boats would have good days, with the 1v placing second, the 2v and 3v both winning by open water, the freshmen four finishing in 5th, and the varsity four finishing 7th. Despite some early morning showers and high temperatures late in the day, conditions on Gifford Pinchot Lake proved great for racing.
After winning their morning heat the varsity eight faced a showdown with Marietta College in the final. Both boats won their heats easily, so they quickly separated from the field. A strong Bison start to the race was countered by Marietta who started to edge out in front. A spirited sprint from the Bison could not close the gap, and Bucknell would finish 3 seconds behind in second place with a time of 6:12.6. The 1v was rowed by Nick Barpoulis ’17, Sam Jubb ’17, Billy Pinamont ’17, David Dayya ’20, John Leasure ’19, Dillon LaFata ’18, Drew Stonnington ’19, Ryan McSherry ’19, and was coxed by Cami Berlin ’18.
The 2v and 3v would both win their straight finals easily. The 2v used a strong opening sequence to pull away from the field, finishing 16 seconds in front of 2nd place Marietta in a time of 6:27. The 3v put a strong week of practice to good use, beating out second place Maryland by 30 seconds, winning their event in a time of 6:33. The 2v was rowed by Thomas Marth ’19, Pat Long ’18, Tom Lanphier ’20, Mike Pallotta ’18, James Koenisberg ’18, Christian Daugherty ’18, Lucas Colagrossi ’17, Duncan Ragland ’19, and was coxed by Perry Hamilton ’18. The 3v was rowed by Gunnar Vorwerk ’19, Matt LaRouche ’20, John Robertshaw ’20, Alex Seel ’20, Matt Brown ’20, Alex Herman ’20, Gary Tse ’19, Mike Birosak ’18, and was coxed by Nicole Finan ’17.
The freshmen four qualified out of their morning heat by placing second behind a strong Penn State crew. In the final the young crew never found a rhythm and they would finish in the 5th place. The freshmen four was rowed by Caleb Choi ’20, Matt McLaughlin ’20, Solomon Wise ’20, Sam Jacob ’20, and was coxed by Zack Schiffer ’20. The varsity four rowed a poor heat and missed out on a grand final berth, but responded well in the petite final. Their time of 7:30 would have put them in a competitive 5th place in the grand final. The varsity four was rowed by David Sullivan ’20, Ryan Wang ’19, Phil Thompson ’20, Matt Gorloff ’20, and was coxed by Henry Leonardi ’18.
The Bison will race next that the National Invitational Rowing Championship on May 12th on Lake Quinsigamond in Worcester, MA. We hope to see as many friend and family there as we can!