Pioneer Navy opens fall season at Head of the Genesee
Marietta races a lightweight and heavyweight 4+ at the event

Oct. 7, 2007
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — The Marietta College men's crew opened its 2007 fall season Sunday (Oct. 7) by competing at the 19th annual Head of the Genesee Invitational Regatta in Genesee Valley Park. The event, which was co-hosted by the University of Rochester (N.Y.) and Rochester Institute of Technology (N.Y.), featured over 30 collegiate teams from the Northeast United States and Canada. The Pioneer Navy entered to boats in the Open 4+, a lightweight shell and a heavyweight shell.

The Head of the Genesee, formerly know as the Stonehurst Invitational, draws top competition due to its unique regatta format. In the morning, crews competed over a three-mile headrace course. In the afternoon, crews were paired based on their headrace results, for a 1,500-meter sprint race. A formula helped determine the final placement of each boat.

Marietta's lightweights featured freshman bow Nathan Capers (Orlando, Fla./Edgewater), sophomore Andrew Hazelrigg (Orlando, Fla./Olympia), sophomore Mike Flanagan (Absecan, N.J./Holy Spirit), junior stroke Mitch Paskawych (Marietta) and junior coxswain Lydia Easterling (Tallmadge). The shell opened the competition with a second place finish in the headrace, trailing only Brown, which finished in 17:49.74. Marietta finished in 18:14.80. In the afternoon, the Pioneers took third with a time of 5:09.67. Grand Valley won the sprint in 5:07.01, while Brown was second across the line in 5:07.53. In the final rankings, Brown was first (33:12.33), Grand Valley was second (33:40.81) and Marietta was third (33:43.81).

The Pioneers' heavyweight shell, which included sophomore bow Steven Little (Seattle, Wash./Bishop Blanchet), sophomore Alan Satherwhite (Oak Ridge, Tenn.), sophomore Kevin Wessler (Port Republic, N.J./Holy Spirit), sophomore stroke John Porter (Potomac, Md./Walt Whitman) and sophomore coxswain Rita McCoy (Lansdowne, Pa./Archbishop Prendergast), also competed Sunday. The shell placed 11th in the morning headrace (20:07.58) but bounced back with an eighth place finish in the afternoon sprint (5:28.93) to end the day in ninth place overall (36:34.37).

"I am pleased with the effort of our men on Sunday," said third-year Head Coach Chris Pucella. "The lightweights put together two solid races, and the heavyweights overcame a slow morning race to look good in the sprint. We are a young squad (no seniors) and we will continue to progress this fall. I am looking forward to see our improvement on the water over the next three weeks in preparation for the Schuylkill."