The Bison Men culminated the fall racing season this past Saturday at the Philadelphia Frostbite Regatta, hosted in Camden, NJ. Due to the effects of Hurricane Sandy, the Rutgers Fall Classic (Scheduled for Nov. 3rd) was cancelled – prompting a late entry into the Frostbite Regatta for the Bucknell Men.
The first boat down the course on Saturday afternoon was the Freshman 8+. Composed of entirely novice rowers, this marked the first 2k sprint regatta on their young careers. Despite new environment, the Bucknell Freshman performed well, finishing 2nd behind the University of Delaware with a final time of 6:57.20.
Immediately following the freshman race was the Bison 2V8+, competing against perennial rivals in Drexel, Delaware, Ithaca and Temple University. After a tight first 1000m, Delaware and Drexel began to pull away, while the Bucknell 2V moved through Temple University to eventually finish 3rd – with a final time of 6:29.37.
The third boat to compete was the Bison 3V, composed of 6 freshman, a sophomore and a junior. The young but talented crew performed well, eventually finishing 2nd with a final time of 6:35.67.
The final event of the day was the Bison Varsity 8+, competing against familiar spring rivals in Drexel, Temple, Delaware, Ithaca and Washington College. Racing was tight early in the race, with Drexel opening an early lead with Delaware, Temple and Bucknell fighting a tight race for 2nd. As the race came down to the sprint, Drexel held an open water lead while it was down to Bucknell and Temple sprinting to the line. The Bison men narrowly missed 2nd place to Temple, finishing 3rd by 0.8 seconds with a final time of 6:18.82.
The coming months of hard work for the Bison will lead them to their first race of the spring against Marist and Purdue on March 16th. Coaches Monte and Waters are optimistic about the team prospects for the spring season – for it is shaping up to be a team with previously unseen depth and intra-squad competition.