The Championship Season has begun for Bucknell with a successful day of racing at the Mid-Atlantic Rowing Conference (MARC) Championship on Pinchot Lake in Lewisberry, PA. With the first Varsity boat and the Varsity 4+ having heats in the morning, they arrived early to a course full of dense fog and racing was delayed until the fog lifted to clear skies for most of the day. The other boats were all straight to finals and were able to arrive later in the morning when conditions were still clear but a varying wind had picked up. The Varsity boat was not able to run their final due to lightning strikes nearby; there was an attempt to delay the race, eventually being called off.
The 1V was the first boat to hit the waters in the second heat for the Men’s Varsity event. The other teams present were Rhode Island, Army, Franklin & Marshall, and Johnson & Wales. The Bison, knowing early in the race that they were in a strong qualifying position for the grand final, raced to third place in the heat with Rhode Island out in front with a time of 6:11, Army at 6:15, Bucknell a second behind at 6:16 and then Franklin & Marshall at 6:42 and Johnson & Wales at 7:25. The third place finish in this heat would send the crew to the Grand Final for the Men’s Varsity event, which was ultimately canceled after the boat launched for the race due to lightning in the area. In the end, Bucknell took Bronze in this event based off heat times.
The Men’s Novice and Men’s 3V events were combined into a single event, to which Bucknell would send both their Novice 8 and 3V to race. This event was a straight-to-final race and would see George Mason, Maryland, and Rhode Island up against the two Bucknell Boats. Once all boat were aligned, the race was started and the Novice boat took an early lead on the rest of the field. The 3V attempted to have a similar start, but was almost collided into by the Maryland crew. After a few clashed oars, the 3V was able to regain composure and moved ahead. The Novices held the field by several boat lengths into a now cross-head wind and would go on to win the first medals of the day for Bucknell with a time of 6:56. Rhode Island would secure bronze with a time of 7:11 with Bucknell’s 3V taking silver, clocking in at a 7:26. George Mason (7:38) and Maryland (8:10) would close off the field.
The Varsity 4 was the only other boat to have a heat and the only boat of the day to officially race twice. Their heat consisted of touch competition and race in the mix the entire race to come in 4th behind Marietta (7:19), Stockton (7:21), and Stony Brook (7:24). The Bison posted a time of 7:28 with Maryland following behind with a time of 8:53. This result would send the 4+ to the Petite Final where they would again have a battle the entire race. With a large move in the last 500, Bucknell would secure a 4th place finish (8:12) behind Stockton (8:02), Maryland (8:06) and Stony Brook (8:08). They would beat out The College of New Jersey (8:14) and St. Mary’s (8:35) to close out the Men’s Varsity 4 racing.
In the last final to be raced by Bucknell, the Second Varsity 8 pulled up to the start line with storm clouds closing in fast. This event was also a straight-to-final event with no heats in the morning and would consist of boats from Army, Bucknell, Franklin & Marshall, and Rhode Island. Previously at the Kerr Cup, the 2V fell short to Army by 5 seconds but at the MARC, they were able to gain two seats on Army by the first 500m mark. With an incredibly well rowed battle, Bucknell was able to keep the lead and moved to four seats up on Army at the finish line to have Bucknell take a winning time of 6:45. Over Army’s 6:46.5. The race was closed off by Rhode Island (7:09) and Franklin & Marshall (7:25).
The team now is entering into finals and will be putting good work in on the water and in the classrooms over the next couple of weeks. Next up on the schedule for the Bison is the Dad Vail Regatta in Philadelphia, PA, the largest collegiate regatta in the world. With nearly 100 teams entering, Bucknell with see some very tough competition at this event and will be get a good look into some crews they will look to take down for the ACRA National Championships a couple weeks later.
Varsity 8 – 2018 Resolute
Cox: Perry Hamilton ‘18
Stroke: Bobby Subak ‘21
7: Dillon LaFata ’18
6: Mike Pallotta ‘18
5: Alex Seel ’20
4: John Leasure ’19
3: Tom Lanphier ’20
2: Drew Stonnington ‘19
Bow: Ryan McSherry ’19
2nd Varsity 8 – Class of 1985
Cox: Henry Leonardi ’18
Stroke: Matt Brown ‘20
7: Matt LaRouche ’20
6: Patrick Long ‘18
5: Nick Bermeo ’21
4: Alex Herman ’20
3: Gunnar Vorwerk ’19
2: Christian Daugherty ’18
Bow: James Koenigsberg ’18
3rd Varsity 8 – Trustee Challenge ’15
Cox: Aibhlin Moye-Linehan ’18
Stroke: Taylor LaRosa ’21
7: Ryan Lalevee ‘20
6: Chris Mangano ’21
5: Beau Detchemendy ‘21
4: Lourenco Martins ‘21
3: Kip Hallagan ’21
2: Sebastian Bickford ’2
Bow: Sam Jacob ’20
Novice 8 – Scott Uebele ’00
Cox: Brody Mistrot ’21
Stroke: Cooper Giesen ’21
7: Liam Oakely ’21
6: Liam Gibbons ’21
5: George Willis ’21
4: Liam Pearce ’21
3: Rylan Forester ’21
2: Will Costa ’21
Bow: Ryan Galli ’21
Novice 4 – Empacher 4
Cox: Perry Hamilton ‘18
Stroke: Phill Thompson ’20
3: Mike Birosak ‘18
2: Ryan Wang ‘20
Bow: Sam Jacob ’20