PENNSAUKEN TOWNSHIP, N.J. — The Marietta College men's rowing team wrapped up the fall racing season at the 45th annual Bill Braxton Memorial Regatta Sunday (Nov. 11) afternoon.

Held on the 2,000-meter Cooper River course, the event is named in honor of Braxton who was a member of Marietta's 1973 lightweight 8+ crew that went undefeated and captured Dad Vail gold.

"The team finished the fall season with some strong racing," Marietta head coach Philip Schmehl said. "Throughout the fall we made great strides technically and physically. We enter winter training knowing we have speed to gain."

One of the closest finishes of the day involved a pair of Marietta College crews. The Pioneers had two boats in the men's collegiate junior varsity 8+ race and they finished one and two with less than a half-second between them.

Marietta's "A" crew posted a time of 6:21.40 with the Pioneer "B" entry taking the silver with a time of 6:21.83. Ithaca was third crossing in 6:46.19, followed by New York Maritime (6:52.75).

The winning lineup included coxswain Georgia Majka (Ocean View, N.J./Ocean City), John Montano in the stroke seat, Joseph Madrid (Mineral Wells, W.Va./Parkersburg South), Patrick Watson (Sarasota, Fla./Out-of-Door Academy), Scott Cressman (Philadelphia, Pa./Father Judge), William Rafferty (Moorestown, N.J./Moorestown), John Saunders (Buffalo, N.Y./Olmsted), George Riffle (San Diego, Calif./Point Loma) and Samuel Rojas (Bronx, N.Y./) in the bow.

MC's "B" shell sat coxswain Manning Shaw, Mitchell Nelsen (Placerville, Calif./Ponderosa) at stroke, Edmund Lynch (Marietta, Ga./Walton), Cameron Short (Hilliard, Ohio/Hilliard Davidson), Tyler Heldt (Tampa, Fla./Steinbrenner), Brett McGettigan (Ventnor City, N.J./Holy Spirit), Drayton Piper (Roswell, Ga./Roswell), Eli Egyed (Gibsonia, Pa./Pine-Richland) and Benjamin Heckathorn (Westerville, Ohio/Westerville North) in the bow seat.

The Navy Blue and White also claimed silver in the men's collegiate varsity 8+ race. Colgate posted a winning time of 6:02.06 with Marietta taking second with a time of 6:08.14, followed by Ithaca (6:22.20) and Binghamton (7:59.05).

Marietta's varsity 8+ lineup featured coxswain Chrissy Billingsley (Marietta, Ohio/Marietta), Chris Metz (Cincinnati, Ohio/Indian Hill) at stroke, Ethan Schafhausen (Westerville, Ohio/Westerville Central), Michael Shrader (Clarence Center, N.Y./Clarence), Evan Odom (Vista, Calif./Rancho Buena Vista), Brooks Spires (Sebastian, Fla./Sebastian River), Morgan Pirie (The Woodlands, Texas/College Park), Angelo Leitner-Wise (Alexandria, Va./TC Williams) and Dylan Dalpedri (Spring, Texas/The Woodlands) in the bow.

The Pioneers raced a pair of fours with the novice crew taking third place and the varsity shell finishing fifth.

Ithaca won the novice 4+ race with a time of 7:23.33, followed by New York Maritime (7:53.87), Marietta (8:11.57), Manhattan (8:50.32) and Stony Brook (9:38.12).

In the varsity 4+ division, Colgate claimed the gold with a time of 6:44.14, followed by Stony Brook (7:03.75), Ithaca (7:33.43), New York Maritime (7:36.69) and Marietta (7:54.02).

MC's novice shell included coxswain David Sher, Albert Gorman at stroke, Jonathan McWhite (Bellingham, Mass./Bromfield), Gregorio Puntarelli (Houston, Texas/Memorial) and Andrew Novak (Sewickley, Pa./Quaker Valley) in the bow.

The varsity 4+ lineup featured Shaw at coxswain, Josh Loudon (Streetsboro, Ohio/Aurora) in the stroke seat, Patrick Malone (Mount Laurel, N.J./Lenape), Richey Puntarelli (Marietta, Ohio/) and Heckathorn in the bow.

Fans can follow all the Pioneer teams all year long at pioneers.marietta.edu. You can also follow the Pioneers on Facebook at facebook.com/MariettaCollege and @MariettaPioneer on Twitter and Instagram.