PHILADELPHIA, Pa. — The Marietta College men's crew paid its annual tribute to the memory of a former rower by competing in the Bill Braxton Memorial Regatta Sunday (Nov. 15) morning on the Schuylkill River. The Pioneer Navy continued its dominance in the featured event of the regatta by winning the Bill Braxton Cup, which goes to the winner of the varsity lightweight eight title, for the sixth straight season. [Results] [Photos]

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.

Marietta's lightweight shell, which sat junior coxswain Thomas Dougherty (Lansdowne, Pa., Monsignor Bonner), senior stroke Andrew Hazelrigg (Orlando, Fla., Olympia), senior Mike Flanagan (Absecon, N.J., Holy Spirit), sophomore Patrick Cleveland (New Canaan, Conn.), sophomore Jim Furl (Marietta, Marietta), sophomore Ethan Shoemaker (Westerville, North), sophomore Matt Newsome (Petersburg, N.J., Ocean City), sophomore Drew Schulte (Parma, St. Ignatius), and sophomore bow John Chester (Petersburg, N.J., Ocean City) tasted victory for the second straight day on Sunday as it also won Saturday's Frostbite Regatta on the same course. The Pioneers edged second place Delaware to the line by just under 3 seconds to post the win after rowing a time of 4:11.71. With the win, Hazelrigg and Flanagan joined select company as Pioneers to win the Bill Braxton Memorial Cup four straight years. Delaware, whose only previous loss of the fall came against Navy, crossed in 4:14.61, while Penn State (4:31.77). Binghamton (4:38.12), Ithaca (4:41.11) and Scranton (4:42.27) rounded out third through sixth in the race.

The Pioneers' Junior Varsity 8+ avenged its third place finish at Saturday's Frostbite by beating the two boats that finished ahead of it on Sunday. Junior coxswain Thomas Dougherty (Lansdowne, Pa., Monsignor Bonner), sophomore stroke Tim Shields (Seaville, N.J., St. Augustine Prep.), senior Mike Flanagan (Absecon, N.J., Holy Spirit), sophomore Patrick Cleveland (New Canaan, Conn.), sophomore Brian Timlin (Aston, Pa., Sun Valley), senior John Porter (Bethesda, Md., Walt Whitman), sophomore James Inks (McDonald, Pa., Seton-La Salle), junior Gregory Clair (Pittsburgh, Pa., Central Catholic) and junior bow Michael Cute (Philadelphia, Pa., Roman Catholic) covered the course in 4:23.01. Saturday's winner Drexel finished runner-up with a time of 4:24.84, while Temple took third with a time of 4:27.53. Ithaca (4:28.72) was fourth, while a second Drexel boat (4:31.42) placed fifth.

Marietta's Varsity 8+ took third place in its race on Sunday. The Pioneers, who sat sophomore coxswain Kendra Canter (Marietta, Marietta), sophomore stroke Steven Williamson (Moon Township, Pa., Central Catholic), junior Zach McGurk (Alexandria, Va., Bishop O'Connell), junior Devin Turley (Herndon, Va., Westfield), sophomore James Smith (Atlantic City, N.J., Holy Spirit), senior Steven Little (Seattle, Wash., Bishop Blanchet), sophomore Richie Fredericks (Seaville, N.J., Ocean City) and sophomore bow Ben Charley (Pittsburgh, Pa., Winchester Thurston) crossed the line in 4:35.43. Temple (4:27.15) edged out second place Drexel (4:27.32) for the victory.

Marietta's Freshmen/Novice 8+ also took third in its race. Coxswain Alyssa Hogan (Marietta, Marietta), stroke Andrew Parenti (Vineland, NJ, St. Augustine), Nico Richey (Egg Harbor Township, N.J., St. Augustine), Nicholas Blanzy (Grosse Point Park, MI, Grosse Point), Connor Walters (Bayvillage, St. Ignatius), Nathaniel Porter (Bethesda, Md., Walt Whitman), Will Hamilton (Dublin, Coffman), Chad Rummler (Seaville, NJ, Ocean City) and bow Daniel Clunies (Wexford, PA, North Allegheny Sr.) finished with a time of 4:54.75. Drexel won the four-boat race with a time of 4:37.84, while Bucknell (4:46.68) placed second and Ithaca "B" (6:08.59) was fourth.

This concludes Marietta's fall racing season. The Pioneers will return to action on Feb. 6 when they host their annual Ohio Valley Indoor Rowing Championship inside the Dyson Baudo Recreation Center.