Marietta men win two bronze medals at Knecht Cup
Pioneer Navy takes third in F/N 4+ and V4+ events

April 13, 2008
CAMDEN, N.J. — The Marietta College men's crew wrapped up its weekend at the Knecht Cup with a pair of bronze medalists among its four shells that competed in Sunday (April 13) morning's finals on the Cooper River. The Pioneers' Freshmen/Novice 4+ and Varsity 4+ both finished third in the 50-school competition, which featured crews from all over the country.

The Pioneer Navy opened the morning with its Freshman/Novice 4+, which had a boat in both the Petite Final and Grand Final. Marietta's "A" boat, which featured bow Daniel Bratton (Philadelphia, Pa./Roman Catholic), Niklas Von Kuczkowski (Hanover, Germany/Culver Military Academy), Zach McGurk (Alexandria, Va./Bishop O'Connell), stroke Devin Turley (Herdon, Va./Westfield) and coxswain Thomas Dougherty (Lansdowne, Pa./Monsignor Bonner), won its opening heat and then took second in the semifinal to advance to the Grand Final. There, Marietta rowed its way to third place finish, crossing the line in 7:00.3. Colgate (6:49.6) won the race, while Temple (6:53.7) took runner-up.

Marietta's "B", which sat 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), reached the Petite Final by way of a second place finish in its opening heat and then a fifth place finish in its semifinal. The boat then took second in the Petite, rowing a time of 7:21.6, which placed it eighth overall.

The Varsity 4+ was next to race. The shell, which included 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), was coming off a second place finish in its heat on Saturday. The Pioneers went head-to-head with a Colgate's Varsity 8+, which was split into two boats. Colgate "A" won the race in 6:38.5 and its "B" boat took second, finishing in 6:42.3. Marietta took third place after crossing the line in 6:42.7.

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), rounded out the day of racing with its Grand Final appearance. The shell, which had four athletes racing their seventh race of the weekend, had placed second in the opening heat and third in the semifinal on Saturday. Marietta ran into some trouble 750m into the race when one of its rowers caught a CLAM, which forced the boat to temporarily stop its momentum. The Pioneers regrouped and finished fifth, crossing the line in 6:16.8. Hobart (6:04.7) won the race, while Bucknell (6:09.7), North Carolina (6:13.2) and Lehigh (6:16.4) also finished ahead of Marietta.

The Pioneers will continue their preparation for the year-end Dad Vail Rowing Championship when they travel down to Oak Ridge, Tenn., for the Southern Intercollegiate Rowing Association (SIRA) Championship. Racing begins on Saturday (April 19) and concludes on Sunday (April 20).