Members of the Bucknell Men’s Crew and Women’s Rowing teams came together on Friday, February 19th to compete at the 20th annual Erg Armageddon in Davis Gym. The competition is a 2000 meter indoor race, meant to simulate racing conditions that the athletes will experience come spring. Medals are awarded to the top three finishers in a number of different events. This year saw men competing in the Varsity Heavyweight, Freshman Heavyweight, and Varsity Lightweight categories.
The Varsity Heavyweight ended in a wire to wire victory by junior co-captain Billy Pinamont, who finished in a time of 6:16.4. Pinamont is one of five returning rowers from the 2015 bison varsity 8. Finishing behind him were sophomore Mike Pallotta (6:25.6) and senior Doug Burney ’16 (6:27.9), both members of last years second varsity 8 who spent time in the varsity 8 this fall.
The Freshmen Heavyweight race saw a very close finish, with the top three athletes separated by less than 4 seconds. The event was won by John Leasure, who finished in a time of 6:26.2. Second and third place were separated by just a tenth of a second, with Michael Savage (6:30.1) edging out Duncan Ragland (6:30.2). Both Leasure and Ragland saw time in the bison varsity 8 in the fall, while Savage was in the teams top finishing freshman crew at the Rutgers Fall Classic.
The Varsity Lightweights saw a similar finish to the freshman, with the top three finishers just five second apart. Senior Ryan Thompson, who has spent much of the last two years in the varsity 8, won the event in a time of 6:36.9. He was followed by a pair of sophomores, Christian Daugherty who finished just a second behind (6:37.9), and James Koenigsberg (6:41.6). Christian and James both finished last spring in the freshman 8.
After the men’s and women’s teams finished up, coxswains from both programs lined up to race a 1k. The three male coxswains had a great race, with junior Nick Barpoulis edging out freshman Robert Bellantoni and sophomore Henry Leonardi, with only five seconds separating the group. The women’s race was even closer, with men’s team coxswains Nicole Finan and Perry Hamilton finishing first and second, with Sarah Shochat from the woman’s program finishing third, with less than two seconds separating the three of them. Sophomore walk on coxswain Emilee Bae also competed in her first ever rowing-related competition.
Erg Armageddon saw 19 new personal bests achieved for the men, and with the return of a few injured athletes who did not participate in the event the men look to grow stronger as training continues. Over the next two weeks the men will spend time both indoors and on the water, before making a return to Lake Anna, Virginia, for spring training camp.