Pioneer Navy sends fours shells to a final at Knecht Cup
Marietta's V4+, F/N 4+ and F/N8+ will compete in Grand Final

April 12, 2008
CAMDEN, N.J. — The Pioneer Navy sent its fleet to the annual Knecht Cup on the Cooper River Saturday (April 12) afternoon for the first day of the two-day event. Marietta College entered five boats into the 50-school competition, which featured crews from all over the country. The young Pioneers rowed well and will have the Freshmen/Novice 8+, Varsity 4+ and a Freshman/Novice 4+ in the Grand Finals, as well as a second Freshmen/Novice 4+ compete in the Petite Finals on Sunday (April 13) morning.

Marietta’s Varsity 4+, which featured junior stroke Mitch Paskawych (Marietta), sophomore Mike Flanagan (Absecon, N.J./Holy Spirit), sophomore Andrew Hazelrigg (Orlando, Fla./Olympia), sophomore bow John Porter (Potomac, Md./Walt Whitman) and sophomore coxswain Rita McCoy (Lansdowne, Pa./Archbishop Prendergast), finished second to Colgate in its six-boat heat and advanced to Sunday’s Grand Final at 9:20 a.m. Marietta finished in 6:54.5.

The Pioneers’ Freshmen/Novice 8+, which included stroke Devin Turley (Herdon, Va./Westfield), Zach McGurk (Alexandria, Va./Bishop O'Connell), William Charlton (New Vernon, N.J./Berkshire), Zach Burgess (Ashland), Niklas Von Kuczkowski (Hanover, Germany/Culver Military Academy), Daniel Bratton (Philadelphia, Pa./Roman Catholic), Daniel Mills (Fairport, N.Y.), bow Nathan Capers (Orlando, Fla./Edgewater) and coxswain Thomas Dougherty (Lansdowne, Pa./Monsignor Bonner), took second in its opening heat (6:22.3) to advance to a semifinal later in the day. In that semifinal, the shell, which had four of the men competing in their fifth race of the day, placed third (6:23.2) and advanced to its own Grand Final at 11 a.m. Between the two races, the boat competed in a heat of Varsity 8+ competition and finished sixth (6:24.1).

Marietta also entered two boats into the Freshmen/Novice 4+ event. The Pioneers’ “A” shell, which featured bow Bratton, Von Kuczkowski, McGurk, stroke Turley and coxswain Dougherty, won its opening heat (7:13.9) and then took second in its semifinal (6:24.8) to advance to Sunday’s Grand Final at 8:10 a.m. Marietta’s “B” shell, which included stroke Stephen Baranoski (Meriden, Conn./Xavier), Zach Mateja (King of Prussia, Pa./Upper Merion), Gregory Clair (Pittsburgh, Pa./Central Catholic), bow Michael Cute (Philadelphia, Pa./Roman Catholic) and coxswain Kristina Markman (Columbia, Md./Atholton), claimed second place in its heat (7:16.0) and then took fifth in its semifinal (7:38.7), giving it a place in the Petite Final on Sunday at 8 a.m.