CHERRY HILL, New Jersey - This weekend that Marist men's rowing team competed at the Knecht Cup Regatta. The regatta took place in Cherry Hill NJ on the Cooper River race course. The regatta was scheduled to take place over two days from Saturday through Sunday; however, extremely windy conditions on Saturday forced the race course to close and Sunday's schedule was compressed to allow for the full slate of racing to fit on one day. Marist was entered in the Varsity Eight event and had an A and B entry in the Second Varsity Eight event. The team also entered team captain Gavin Crouch in the men's single
The Varsity Eight consisted of Kayla Lewis (cox), Gavin Crouch (stroke), Holden Kopscik (7), Connor Tandy (6), Nolan Libby (5), Axel Anderegg-Durwood (4), Tristan Wistuba (3), Thomas Graves (2), Liam Klemm (bow). The V8 faced Temple, Michigan, Lehigh, and Rhode Island in their heat. The crew started well and after about 400m were roughly 3 seats behind the crews from Temple and Michigan. Down the middle 1000m the crew struggled to find a rhythm in a puffy cross wind and the crew from Lehigh gradually moved up to challenge for the third position. In the last 500m Lehigh pushed through and finished about 1 length up on Marist.
The final result was Temple in first with a time of 5:55, Michigan in second at 5:59, Lehigh third at 6:03, Marist fourth at 6:07 and Rhode Island in fifth at 6:10. With only the top two crews moving to the finals, owing to the compressed race schedule, this effectively ended the regatta for this crew.
The Second Varsity Eight consisted of Matthew Wright (cox), Evan Brown (stroke), James Hadjandreas (7), Peter Martinich (6), Andrew Davis (5), Matthew Roscoe (4), Nolan Keane (3), Mason Roy (2), Adam Wittman (bow). The 2V raced their heat against LaSalle, Michigan, Army (West Point), Fairfield and the Marist B Boat. The B Boat (the Marist Third Varsity Eight), Tessa Kurtzman (cox), Drew Ngo (stroke), Dylan Kresge (7), Zak Schwarz (6), Caden Todd (5), Pedro Guitian (4), Brandon Wynn (3), Mason Lockowitz (2), Matthias Topping (bow). Both boats had great first races of the day. The crew from LaSalle took an early lead in the first strokes of the race and eventually pulled away to a dominant win in a time of 6:00. Marist had an early lead on the crew from Michigan. The race heated up in the middle 1000m with Michigan coming up to challenge Marist and Marist fighting back hard with the two crew sprinting for the finish line in lock step and Michigan eventually taking second in 6:10 and Marist just a few seats behind at 6:11. Meanwhile behind those two a great battle was unfolding between the Marist 3V8 and the 2V8 crews from Fairfield and Army. Marist was behind both crews after the start but down the middle stretch of the race unleashed a strong rhythm that gradually pulled them into the lead. In the final meters, the crew from Fairfield faded but the cadets from Army put on a furious burst of speed.
The two crews fought down the last final meters for a photo finish with Marist taking fourth in 6:27.2 and Army fifth in 6:27.7. Fairfield rounded out the race in 6:40. With the top three crews moving to the finals, the Marist 2V8 moved to the grand final for their event. In the final Marist raced against LaSalle, Embry Riddle, Michigan, and Mercyhurst. The conditions had become much more dynamic for the final with big blasts of wind coming across the race course in a cross wind. Marist struggled to find the same effective rhythm as the morning. The crew hung with the top group for about 1000m before fading to fifth in the third 500m and eventually being out sprinted by Mercyhurst to take sixth.
Team captain Gavin Crouch raced in the morning in the men's 1x event. His conditions were flat and windless racing on a perfect course where he competed in his heat against athletes from Stetson, Dominican and Carnegie Mellon. Gavin was slightly rocky in the very early starting strokes of the race but quickly settled into a strong and long rhythm. In the first 500m of the race Gavin battled with the athlete from Stetson but by 700m he had taken the lead and was moving away. He rowed strongly down the remainder of the course continuing to put distance into his rivals eventually winning the race in a time of 7:40.4 with Stetson in second at 7:55, Dominican third at 8:39 and Carnegie Mellon fourth at 8:45. This time was enough to best the winners from the other heat of singles whose winner had gone 7:46 and so Gavin was announced as the winner of the regatta.
Overall a difficult but rewarding weekend for the team. The V8 continues to struggle to find a rhythm in a variety of conditions and circumstances. The 2V8 and 3V8 had excellent races in their heat but the 2V struggled in challenging conditions in the final. Gavin winning the 1x was a nice win for him and the team demonstrating his exceptional fitness and a clear indicator of his training efforts both in his fitness and technical ability.
