The team traveled once again to Gainesville, Georgia to compete in the 2018 American Collegiate Rowing Association (ACRA) National Championship. Every year the team stays late after graduation to train on campus before leaving for Georgia. In addition to racing crews from all over the country for the National title, the team also uses this trip as a time for an end of the year banquet.
Racing
Traveling with the team would be the 1V8, 1N8, Lwt4, 1V4, and the 1N4. All boats spent several days practicing on the course prior to racing, to get in some collected rows on the course and a feel for the lanes. The conditions leading up to race were ideal for rowing, with a slight overcast and minimal wind. Racing was to include heats, repechages, semi-finals and Grand Finals however, due to incoming weather, races were moved to approximately 1900m time trials to determine which semi-final crews were to advance to before Grand Finals.
BUMC Varsity 8 at the 2018 ACRA National Championships
The Men’s 1V8 posted 11th fastest in the time trials at 5:45.9 sending them to Semi final #2, where they would face off against UNC, Orange Coast, UCSB and Michigan, taking 5th place behind all crews with a time of 6:14.0, placing them into the B Final to finish of their spring racing. In the B final, Bucknell (6:11.8) would come in 8th overall to Purdue (6:00.9), Vermont (6:02.2), Minnesota (6:02.9), Michigan State (6:03.8), Washington State (6:06.4), UCLA (6:07.6), and Western WA (6:08.1). Ultimately the bad weather held off all day until the finals for the Men’s Varsity events at which point there was a torrential downpour.
The other 8 that Bucknell raced, the Men’s Novice 8, had the same racing progression of a time trial, Semi-Finals, and Grand Finals. In a tightly packed middle field, the Novice men placed 13th overall for the Time Trials with a 6:06.6, seeding them into the first semi final. Finishing in the top four for each final sends the crew to the Grand Final, which Bucknell was able to accomplish with a time of 6:42.3 in the Semi-Final, claiming lane 8 in the Grand Finals. In one of their best races of the year, the Men’s Novice 8+ took 8th overall at the National Championship with a time of 6:29.9, behind Michigan State (6:28.9), UC Irvine (6:22.7), Michigan (6:14.8), Notre Dame (6:14.7), Orange Coast (6:11.5), UVA (6:06.4) and Delaware (6:05.8).
Following suite of the 8s, all 4s went through time trails before advancing onto Semi-Finals. The Varsity 4 placed 17th (6:49.0) moving them along to Semi-Final 1, the Varsity lwt 4 placing 4th (6:39.5) moving them to Semi-Final 1 and the Novice 4 placing 16th (7:06.5), moving them to Semi-Final 1 as well.
After racing all of the Semi-Finals, both the Varsity 4 and Novice 4 moved on the the B Finals. The Varsity 4 moved into a 9 boat race, one of the largest races of the weekend, finishing in 9th place with a time of 7:20.9 behind UC Davis (7:09.2), Chicago (7:07.8), Penn State (7:07.4), Dayton (7:04.2), UCLA (7:01.6), UVA (6:58.6), Oregon (6:58.2) and Alabama (6:55.6). In the Novice 4 event, Bucknell took 7th in the Semi-Final, moving them along to the B-Final, having one of the tightest races of their season, taking 5th place (7:21.7) over UC Irvine (7:31.0), Chicago (7:22.7) and Penn State (7:22.3) and behind William & Mary (7:20.8), Michigan (7:19.5), Emory (7:17.7), and So. Oregon (7:15.1).
Bucknell’s Men’s Varsity Lwt 4+ on the ACRA Medal dock after taking Bronze
The Varsity Lwt 4 came in second in their Semi-Final, 3 seconds behind Michigan, and would advance to the Grand Finals. Seeded as one of the fastest crews from the Semi-Finals, Bucknell found themselves surrounded by many other crews of matching caliber. In a tight race to stay in the medals, Bucknell came across the finish line just a half second ahead of the 4th place crew to take home the Bronze Medal. Michigan finished first (6:57.3) and Chicago second (7:00.1) with Minnesota (7:04.0), UCSB (7:10.2), Texas (7:14.2) UC Irvine (7:18.1) and Georgia (7:21.6) following Bucknell (7:03.6).
During the weekend’s racing, the ACRA named Dillon Lafata ’18, Mike Pallotta ’19, Drew Stonnington ’19, and John Leasure ’19 to the Mid-Atlantic Regional Team.
End of the Year Banquet
Keeping with tradition, the team held its End of the Year Banquet with family members at Scott’s Downtown for dinner and awards presentation, with many thanks given to the Parent Group for helping orchestrate everything. Every year there are several awards handed out by the coaches, one for each class year as well as the Randy Leavitt Founders Trophy, given to a team member who exemplifies the determination to make the team better and better and was awarded to Mike Birosak. This year, the First-Year Class award was given to Bobby Subak, Sophomore Class award given to Alex Seel, Junior Class award given to Ryan McSherry, and the Senior Class award given to Mike Pallotta.
All Seniors are also recognized every year by being presented with trophy blades, commemorating their time spent on the team, in the erg room, and on the water.
Class of 2018
Coxswains
Perry Hamilton
Henry Leonardi
Aibhlin Moye-Linehan
Rowers
Mike Birosak
Christian Daugherty
James Koenigsberg
Dillon LaFata
Patrick Long
Mike Pallotta
From left to right: Head Coach Dan Wolleben, Perry Hamilton, Patrick Long, Mike Pallotta, Aibhlin Moye-Linehan, Henry Leonardi, Christian Daugherty, Mike Birosak, James Koenigsberg, and Dillon LaFata
BUMC Novice 4+ at the 2018 ACRA National Championships
BUMC Varsity 4+ at the 2018 ACRA National Championships
ACRA Lineups
Varsity 8 – 2018 Resolute
Cox: Perry Hamilton ’18
8: Bobby Subak ’21
7: Dillon LaFata ’18
6: Mike Pallotta ’18
5: Alex Seel ’20
4: John Leasure ’19
3: Gunnar Vorwerk ’19
2: Drew Stonnington ’19
Bow: Ryan McSherry ’19
Novice 8 – Class of 1985
Cox: Brody Mistrot ’21
8: Liam Pearce ’21
7: Liam Oakley ’21
6: Cooper Giesen ’21
5: Nick Bermeo ’21
4: Liam Gibbons ’21
3: George Willis ’21
2: Ryan Galli ’21
Bow: Rylan Forester ’21
Varsity 4 – Vespoli V1
Cox: Aibhlin Moye-Linehan ’18
4: Phil Thompson ’20
3: Alex Herman ’20
2: Ryan Wang ’19
Bow: Mike Birosak ’18
Varsity Lightweight 4 – Vespoli VHP39
Cox: Henry Leonardi ’18
4: Christian Daugherty ’18
3: Matt LaRouche ’20
2: Patrick Long ’18
Bow: James Koenigsburg ’18
Novice 4 – The Panther
Cox: Kip Hallagan ’21
4: Taylor LaRosa ’21
3: Will Costa ’21
2: Ryan Lalevee ’20
Bow: Sebastian Bickford ’21
A huge Thank You goes out to the Susquehanna University Crew Team for lending us their 4+s!