CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts — The Marietta College men's rowing team opened the fall racing season at the 55th annual Head of the Charles Regatta Sunday (Oct. 20) afternoon. The Pioneers competed in the Collegiate Eight and Collegiate Four races.

"Both shells had clean races and raced hard, which is what we want to see," Marietta head coach Greg Myhr said. "We've got a lot of work to do to catch a lot of these teams. There was certainly some encouraging margins, but they are all moving targets. Everyone is going to get faster for next spring."

MIT claimed the gold Collegiate 8+ gold medal with a time of 14:25.901. Marist took second with a time of 14:29.120, followed by Hobart (14:33.359), Holy Cross (14:40.786) and Michigan (14:41.265). The Pioneers posted a time of 15:21.386 to finish 23rd.

In the Collegiate 4+ race, UCLA crossed the line in 16:19.035 to take home the gold medal. Orange Coast finished second with a time of 16:31.182, followed by UC Santa Barbara (16:31.386), Bowdoin (16:34.609) and Oklahoma City (16:34.611). Marietta finished in 17:28.911 to place 22nd.

Established in 1965, the Head of the Charles is the world's largest two-day rowing event. More than 11,000 athletes from around the world compete in the regatta's various events.

"We've got our work cut out for us for sure," Myhr said. "I'm proud of the guys and excited to see what we can do next weekend."

The Pioneers are back on the water next Saturday (Oct. 26) at the Head of the Schuylkill in Philadelphia.

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.  Tweet #PioNation

Results
Collegiate 8+
1. MIT (14:25.901), 2. Marist (14:29.120), 3. Hobart (14:33.359), 4. Holy Cross (14:40.786), 5. Michigan (14:41.265), 6. Temple (14:46.230), 7. Notre Dame (14:54.177), 8. St. Josephs (14:55.304), 9. Drexel (14:55.896), 10. Ithaca (14:56.272), 11. Trinity (14:57.133), 12. Williams (14:57.137), 13. Wesleyan (14:58.428), 14. Massachusetts (14:59.336), 15. Virginia (15:00.310), 16. Boston College (15:00.494), 17. Bates (15:07.701), 18. Delaware (15:08.050), 19. Colgate (15:12.276), 20. Purdue (15:12.816), 21. Tufts (15:19. 208), 22. WPI (15:19.378), 23. Marietta (15:21.386), 24. Connecticut (15:23.542), 25. Colby (15:31.160), 26. UC Davis (15:32.322), 27. WPI (15:32.553), 28. Bucknell (15:33.453), 29. Middlebury (15:45.014), 30. Clemson (15:46. 448), 31. Mass.-Lowell (15:47.039), 32. Rutgers (15:48.185), 33. UC Santa Barbara (15:55.539), 34. Xi'an Jiaotong (16:13.900), 35. New Hampshire (16:30.324), 36. Rhode Island (16:49.275), 37. Tongji (16:55.764), 38. Connecticut College (19:23.481).

Coxswain: Georgia Majka (Ocean View, N.J./Ocean City), Stroke: Michael Shrader (Clarence Center, N.Y./Clarence), 7: John Saunders (Buffalo, N.Y./Olmsted), 6: George Riffle (San Diego, Calif./Point Loma), 5: Joseph Madrid (Mineral Wells, W.Va./Parkersburg South), 4: Brooks Spires (Sebastian, Fla./Sebastian River), 3: Drayton Piper (Roswell, Ga./Roswell), 2: William Hoffman (Brigantine, N.J./), Bow: William Rafferty (Moorestown, N.J./).

Collegiate 4+
1. UCLA (16:19.035), 2. Orange Coast (16:31.182), 3. UC Santa Barbara (16:31.386), 4. Bowdoin (16:34.609), 5. Oklahoma City (16:34.611), 6. Notre Dame (16:34.830), 7. Vermont (16:39.989), 8. Vanderbilt (16:40.550), 9. North Carolina (16:48.298), 10. Virginia (16:49.478), 11. Mercyhurst (16:54.469), 12. Michigan (16:56.423), 13. Fordham (16:57.373), 14. Bates (17:00.196), 15. Boston College (17:02.318), 16. Vermont (17:06.736), 17. Drexel (17:09.676), 18. Carleton (17:10.110), 19. Trinity (17:12.532), 20. Washington (17:16.423), 21. Chicago (17:28.695), 22. Marietta (17:28.911), 23. Buffalo (17:30.805), 24. Gordon (17:37.211), 25. Cal. Maritime (17:37.874), 26. MSOE (17:38.184), 27. Colorado (17:38.960), 28. Marist (17:39.979), 29. US Merchant Marine17:42.818), 30. Georgia Tech (17:43.277), 31. Bowdoin (17:44.411), 32. Middlebury (17:55.277), 33. Bucknell (18:01.227), 34. New Hampshire (18:01.641), 35. Colby (18:07.558), 36. Connecticut College (18:13.500), 37. RPI (18:31.367), 38. Marquette (18:33.063), 39. Illinois (18:45.486), 40. High Point (19:13.158).

Coxswain: Manning Shaw (Charleston, S.C./School of the Arts), Stroke: Brett McGettigan (Absecon, N.J./), 3: Jonathan McWhite (Harvard, Mass./), 2: Patrick Watson (Sarasota, Fla./Out-of-Door Academy), Bow: Samuel Rojas (Bronx, N.Y./).