This past Sunday, the Bucknell Bison traveled to The United States Military Academy (Army) Base in West Point, NY to compete in the Faunce Cup for the second year in a row. The Faunce Cup was created in 2015 to honor the memory of Penn State graduate and Army ROTC member, Captain Brian R. Faunce, who was killed in action in Iraq in 2003. In addition to racing Army and Penn State at this race, the Bison saw the University of Vermont (UVM) Catamounts as they made their debut for the Faunce Cup race day with their Men’s and Women’s teams, coached by former BUMC Assistant Coach, Kyle Dowd. Racing was set early in the morning, with weather conditions not unseen by all crews competing on Base; Coaches and Coxswains were made aware of a slight head wind and head current due to the tide going out, that would see a steady increase throughout the morning.
Racing started for Bucknell with the Men’s Novice 4, the only event of the day with five boats: Army launching two boats and one boat from Bucknell, Penn State and UVM each. After a quick start, Bucknell found the intensity needed into the early morning head wind, taking the leader position in the race. Liam, Liam, Liam, Lourenco, and Aiblin would lasso a leading time of 8:16 over Penn State (8:28), UVM (8:50) and both Army boats (8:53 and 10:33, respectively).
The Bison 1V would find themselves in the only other event of the day that had boats from all four schools. The varsity 8 competitors from the four schools also all left with the most interesting race story of the day. All crews started cleanly and shifted into their base rhythm. Bucknell took a small lead of a couple seats through the 500 meter mark in what seemed to be a very closely developing race with Army, the #3 ranked ACRA varsity 8 coming into the weekend. But these four crews weren’t the only boat on the Hudson. There was also a large barge traveling in the opposite direction, and while the barge was clear of the racecourse, its wake was not. As the crews crossed the 600 meter mark the rolling wake hit each boat one by one. While most crews were able to keep moving while taking on significant water, the Army crew was forced to stop for a stroke or two. Since Bucknell was able to keep moving, Bucknell established a more significant lead very quickly, and was able to build on that over the course of the race. By the finish line Bucknell (6:46) was able to establish significant open water over Army at 7:00, UVM at 7:03, and Penn State at 8:20. The Bison 1V is looking forward to another showdown this weekend at the Kerr Cup in the heats with Army.
With the head wind slightly slowing down, but the head current increasing the Bison’s 2V, joined by the 3V, launched for the Men’s 2V8 event against Army’s 2V. While the Bison 2V were able to establish an early lead off the start, the Army crew was able to use a stronger middle of the race to take the lead, and win with a time of 6:52 over Bucknell 2V at 7:10 and the 3V at 7:37.
The Men’s Novice 8 event would only see boats fielded by Army, Bucknell, and Penn State for the last event of the day for Bucknell. Once all crews were aligned for a floating start, the starting flag dropped and all crews were off, with the physically superior Army taking half a length on their competitors within the first few strokes. The Bison’s coxswain, Brody Mistrot ’21, made an in-race decision to extend the start sequence for the Bison to bring the Scott Uebele ’00 shell even with Army, swiftly obtain a lead in the race, which was then maintained and expanded on throughout the rest of the race. The Men’s Novice 8 finished with Bucknell placing a time of 7:21 over Army’s 7:46 and Penn State’s 8:37.
Up next for the members of BUMC will be the 52nd Annual Kerr Cup in Philadelphia, PA on Saturday, which will see many Dad Vail and ACRA programs in attendance. The team will follow that up on Sunday with a home scrimmage against Lehigh.
Varsity 8 – 2018 Resolute
Cox: Perry Hamilton ‘18
Stroke: Bobby Subak ‘21
7: Alex Seel ’20
6: Mike Pallotta ‘18
5: Dillon LaFata ’18
4: John Leasure ’19
3: Tom Lanphier ’20
2: Gunnar Vorwerk ’19
Bow: Ryan McSherry ’19
2nd Varsity 8 – Class of 1985
Cox: Cami Berlin ’19
Stroke: Matt Brown ‘20
7: Matt LaRouche ’20
6: Patrick Long ‘18
5: Nick Bermeo ’21
4: Christian Daugherty ’18
3: Alex Herman ’20
2: Phil Thompson ’20
Bow: Mike Birosak ‘18
3rd Varsity 8 – Trustee Challenge ’15
Cox: Henry Leonardi ’18
Stroke: Drew Stonnington ‘19
7: Taylor LaRosa ‘21
6: Ryan Wang ‘20
5: Sam Jacob ’20
4: Ryan Lalevee ‘20
3: Beau Detchemendy ‘21
2: Sebastian Bickford ’21
Bow: Kip Hallagan ’21
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: Ryan Galli ’21
2: Chris Mangano ’21
Bow: Rylan Forester ’21
Novice 4 – Empacher 4
Cox: Aibhlin Moye-Linehan ’18
Stroke: Liam Pearce ’21
3: Liam Oakley ‘21
2: Liam Gibbons ‘21
Bow: Lourenco Martins ‘21