Pioneer Navy retains Braxton Cup for fourth straight year
Marietta wins three of five races on final competition of the fall

Nov. 11, 2007
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. — The Marietta College men's crew closed out its weekend trip to the Schuylkill River and its fall season with five solid races at the Bill Braxton Memorial Regatta. The Pioneer Navy won three of the events, including the featured Lightweight 8+ race.

The last regatta of the fall season on the Schuylkill, the Bill Braxton Memorial Regatta was founded by the Braxton family and friends to honor the memory of Bill Braxton, Jr., a popular and highly-motivated lightweight rower that attended Marietta College. In 1972, the Marietta lightweight 8+, in which Braxton rowed bow seat, finished second in the Dad Vail Regatta. The following year, with Braxton rowing seven seat, the Marietta lightweight 8+ went undefeated during the season and won the Dad Vail championship. Braxton was killed later that summer in an auto accident.

The 1,500-meter Braxton Regatta, originally sponsored by Crescent Boat Club, moved to the Philadelphia Girls' Rowing Club in the 1980s. The Braxton family and many of Bill Jr.'s friends remain involved in the regatta to this day.

Marietta's freshman 8+, which included coxswain Tom Dougherty, stroke Niklas von Kuczkowski, Nathan Capers, Devin Turley, Zach McGurk, William Charlton, Dan Bratton, Dan Mills and bow Zach Mateja, entered Sunday's race determine to correct some of the mistakes that prevented it from winning at the Frostbite Regatta. The Pioneers were able to do that and held off a late push by the NY Maritime to secure an eight-second victory. Marietta finished in 4:43.5. NY Maritime was second in 4:52.3 and Rochester finished third in 4:53.3.

The Pioneers' varsity 4+ followed the freshman 8+ with a third place performance in its open race. The shell, which sat bow Steven Little, Alan Satherwhite, Andy Hazelrigg stroke John Porter and coxswain Rita McCoy, started well off the line but was unable to sustain the stroke rate to stay with the leaders and finished in 5:17.90. Colegate won the race in 5:02.80, while Ithaca was second in 5:07.15.

Marietta also entered a freshman 4+ into one of the open races. The boat, which featured, bow Mike Cute, Zach Burgess, Greg Clair, stroke Steve Baranowski and coxswain Kristina Markman, put forth an impressive performance. The Pioneers (5:30.25) finished third behind Colegate (4:59.06) and Temple (5:07.39) in the five-boat race. Both of those boats were comprised of their school's top rowers.

The Pioneers' other freshman 4+, which featured coxswain Tom Dougherty, bow Dan Bratton, Devin Turley, Zach McGurk and stroke Niklas von Kuczkowski, pulled off the hard-fought victory by hammering it home over the final 300 meters to hold on for the win. The Pioneers crossed the line in 5:21.10. NY Maritime placed second in 5:24.05, while Philadelphia, who beat Marietta the day before, took third in 5:54.46.

The Pioneer Navy's lightweight 8+ closed out the competition by winning the main event. The shell, which included Cute at bow, Porter, Capers, Jon Carlon, Mills, Mitch Paskawych, Mike Flanagan, Hazelrigg at stroke and McCoy at coxswain, put together a strong race in front of the Braxton family and took home the Bill Braxton Cup for the fourth straight year. Marietta finished the race in 4:34.10, ahead of Drexel (4:39.83), Ithaca (4:45.12), Philadelphia (4:54.50), Penn State (4:56.41) and Hiawatha Island BC (4:58.04).