A bronze medal by the 3rd varsity eight highlighted a good weekend of racing for the Bison last Saturday and Sunday at the Knecht Cup, held on Mercer Lake in West Windsor, NJ. The 3rd varsity eight and the varsity four both made the grand finals, the Varsity and 2nd varsity eights both made the petite finals, and the freshmen four just missed out on a finals position. Racing conditions over the weekend proved challenging. On Saturday only the freshmen four and the Varsity eight got races off, before high winds cancelled racing for the remainder of the day. Fortunately, conditions on Sunday proved to be better and racing was consolidated to fit a Sunday schedule.
The heats of the Varsity Eight bore the brunt of the Saturday racing conditions, with winds tearing down the course and whipping the water up into large whitecaps. The Bison would finish fourth in their morning heat, just behind Delaware. Despite finishing with massive quantities of water in the boat, Bucknell posted the 5th fastest time overall, which advanced them to the semi-finals. In the semi-final the Bison were edged out by Delaware again and despite having the 6th fastest time overall, finished in 4th and ended up in the petite final. The Bison would end up finishing in 3rd place in the petite final. The 1v was rowed by Nick Barpoulis ’17, Sam Jubb ’17, Billy Pinamont ’17, Dillon LaFata ’18, John Leasure ’19, David Dayya ’20, Andrew Stonnington ’19, Ryan McSherry ’19, and was coxed by Cami Berlin ’19.
The second varsity eight endured a lot of waiting over the weekend. They were preparing to launch on Saturday morning only to have racing cancelled, then returned to the course later that afternoon only to have racing cancelled again. The 2v finally got a chance to race on Sunday, where they would finish in 4th place just behind Army, placing them in the petite final. The Bison would go on to finish in 5 place in the petite final. The 2v was rowed by Thomas Marth ’19, Duncan Ragland ’19, Tom Lanphier ’20, Mike Pallotta ’18, Alex Herman ’20, Christian Daugherty ’18, Lucas Colagrossi ’17, Pat Long ’18, and was coxed by Perry Hamilton ’18.
The third varsity eight would race in the club eight category and knew they had a tough event. Several other crews entered their varsity boat into the event, so the 3v would have to row well just to be competitive. The Bison would finish second in their heat on Sunday to advance them to the final. In the final they ended up using a strong sprint to hold off Pittsburgh to finish in third place, finishing just behind Villanova. The 3v was rowed by Gunnar Vorwerk ’19, Matt LaRouche ’20, John Robertshaw ’20, Alex Seel ’20, Matt Brown ’20, James Koenigsberg ’18, Gary Tse ’19, Mike Birosak ’18, and was coxed by Nicole Finan ’17.
The varsity four raced in the club four event and finished 3rd in their morning heat. Despite needing to finish in the top two spots, their time advanced them into the final. They would go on to finish in 5th place in the final just ahead of Penn State. The varsity four was rowed by Phil Thompson ’20, Ryan Wang ’19, David Sullivan ’20, Matt Gorloff ’20, and was coxed by Henry Leonardi ’18.
The freshmen four also saw racing on Saturday morning in rough conditions. The youngest crew on the team managed conditions well, finishing second in their heat to advance to the semi-finals. They would finish just 4 seconds out of advancing the finals. The freshmen four was rowed by Caleb Choi ’20, Sam Jacob ’20, Solomon Wise ’20, Matt McLaughlin ’20, and was coxed by Zack Schiffer ’20.
Next Saturday, the 15th, the Bison travel to Philadelphia, PA for the Kerr Cup on the Schuylkill River. This will be the Bison’s last race in Philadelphia for the year. We would love to see as many family and friends as can make it!