Knecht Cup Results
Penn State Crew competed in their second regatta of the 2016 season this past weekend, April 9th and 10th, at the Knecht Cup on Mercer Lake in West Windsor, NJ. Saturday conditions were less than ideal, with temperatures hovering above freezing, and driving rain. Eventually some of the racing on Saturday afternoon was postponed to Sunday. Despite cold temperatures, racing resumed the next day and Penn State crew enjoyed a great day of racing.
Though Saturday was a rough start for Penn State crew, three of the mens boat made it out of their heats and were able to reach a final. These three boats were the Men’s Novice/Frosh Eight, Men’s Second Varsity Eight, and the Men’s Varsity eight that was competing in the Men’s Club Eight event.
While only three boats made it out of their heats the other boats raced very competitively but unfortunately came up a bit short. These boats were the two Woman’s Novice/Frosh fours, Woman’s Novice/Frosh Eight, Men’s Novice/Frosh Eight boat B, Woman’s Second Varsity Eight, and Woman’s Varsity Eight. They raced hard and are looking for redemption at our next race against Army.
The Men’s Novice/Frosh Eight had a very competitive heat with Delware’s A Boat, Colgate, Rutgers, and Wentworth. They came in 4th place with a time of 7:29.92. This time propelled them into a semi-final against Delaware A, Bucknell, Army, Boston College A, and Loyola. Though they shaved off 26 seconds from their fist time and pulled a 7:04.78, they came in 5th place and secured a spot in the Petite Final. The petite final was the second time they raced on Sunday and pulled an equally impressive time of 7:04.80 while coming in 4th place behind Delaware B, Boston College A, and Loyola. The Men’s Novice/Frosh eight was rowed by Fred Cullin 19’, Dor Tillinger 19’, Evan Melcher 19’, Liam Corrigan 19’, Luc Lallement 19’, Addison Fowler 19’, Doug Hayduk 19’, Chase Kaiser 19’, and coxed by Danielle Olivieri 18’. This was a great showing for the novice men as this was only their second sprint race together as a boat.
The Men’s Second Varsity Eight also had a very competitive heat on Saturday. They faced Marist, Boston College, Army, Bucknell, and Delaware. The weather was less than ideal for their race on Saturday but they powered through it and qualified for the petite final on Sunday. Their race on Sunday consisted of Trinity, Bucknell, St. Josephs B, Delaware, and Washington College. They greatly improved their time from Saturday and pulled a 6:48.79, though it wasn't enough to place. The Men’s Second Varsity Eight was rowed by, Jackson Harvi ’18, Aren Jordan ’17, Sam Duncan ’18, Jakub Nowak ’18, Tom Mangna 16’, Chris Lee 16’, Benjamin France 18’, and Trevor Duncan 16’, and coxed by Tyler Cousins 17’.
The Mens Varsity 8 had the best performance of the day competing in the Men’s Club Eight event. In their heat, which got postponed until Sunday because of the weather on Saturday. They faced Pittsburgh A, Rutgers, and Lafayette. They came in second in their heat and pulled a 6:35.29 which was also the second fasted time of the day out of the Men’s Club Eight event. With this time they went to the Grand Final against Pittsburgh A, Rutgers, Bucknell, Pittsburgh B, and Boston College. With a slow start they looked like they would place third but with 500 meters left, coxswain Nick Poole 17’ called up the rate and the men easily walked past Rutgers an almost caught up to Pittsburgh A but came in second by 3.80 seconds. Their final time was 6:29.23. This was an impressive race for these boys and they came away with the silver medal to show for it. The Men’s Varsity Eight was rowed by Daniel Bendyk 17’, Ryan Bass 18’, Matthew Litchfield 17’, Matt Drohan 16’, Jimi Dodd-o 17’, Nathan Leibowitz 18’, Sam French 18’ Ethan Gilbert 18’, and coxed by Nick Poole 17’. Once again good job boys.
Thank you to all the parents and alumni who showed up to cheer us on. The rowers always appreciate and look forward to seeing you in the future. Our next race is a match race against Army. We will be traveling to West Point to race them on April 23rd.
WE ARE!
