SAN DIEGO, California — The Marietta College men's rowing team had a good showing on the final day of the 49th annual San Diego Crew Classic on Sunday (March 27). The Pioneers' varsity 8+ crew placed ninth overall, while the second varsity 8+ crew finished fifth.
 
"We had some really good racing today. The 1V did a great job closing some gaps to take third in the Cal Cup," Marietta head coach Greg Myhr said. "The 2V was out in some pretty terrible water in lane six but handled it decently and raced hard to take fifth overall."
 
The varsity 8+ raced in the second level final, the Cal Cup, and placed third in the race and ninth overall among the varsity 8+ crews. Purdue won the Cal Cup crossing the line in 6:13.694 with UCLA (6:14.026) a deck length behind in second followed by Marietta (6:16.555) another boat length back. The last three included MIT (6:21.609), Orange Coast (6:26.606) and UC Santa Barbara (6:26.921).
 
"The prevailing winds here are crosswinds across the racecourse. This affords the inside lanes a significant advantage over the outside lanes," Myhr said. "The varsity largely avoided the winds and had a good, clean and aggressive race. The winds were in full effect an hour later for the 2V final. The 2V had some good stretches, but it's hard to row a clean race through the kind of cross chop they had in lane six."
 
The second varsity 8+ grand final races for the Sharp Memorial Cup. UC san Diego won the Cup with a time of 6:23.397, followed by Marist (6:24.050), Purdue (6:30.926) and Gonzaga (6:31.160). Marietta (6:35.766) was a boat length behind Gonzaga and finished a few seats ahead of San Diego (6:37.123) for fifth place.
 
Marietta will host the University of Wisconsin on Saturday (April 2).
 
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. 
 
Results
Varsity 8+ Cal Cup (Second Level Final)
1. Purdue (6:13.694), 2. UCLA (6:14.026), 3. Marietta (6:18.555), 4. MIT (6:21.609), 5. Orange Coast (6:26.606), 6. UC Santa Barbara (6:26.921).
 
Coxswain: Duncan Fraser (Cleveland, Ohio/Saint Ignatius), Stroke: Kade Hennacy (Columbus, Ohio/Upper Arlington), 7: Dylan Dalpedri (Spring, Texas/The Woodlands), 6: George Riffle (San Diego, Calif./Point Loma), 5: Drayton Piper (Roswell, Ga./Roswell), 4: John Saunders (Buffalo, N.Y./Olmsted), 3: Joseph Madrid (Mineral Wells, W.Va./Parkersburg South), 2: William Hoffman (Brigantine, N.J./Holy Spirit), Bow: Tyler Heldt (Tampa, Fla./Steinbrenner).
 
Second Varsity 8+ Sharp Memorial Cup (Grand Final)
1. UC San Diego (6:23.397), 2. Marist (6:24.050), 3. Purdue (6:30.926), 4. Gonzaga (6:31.160), 5. Marietta (6:35.766), 6. San Diego (6:37.123).
 
Coxswain: Natalia Facchinato-Sitja (Washington, D.C./Woodrow Wilson), Stroke: Anthony Calandra (Nokomis, Fla.), 7: Jonathan McWhite (Bellingham, Mass./Bromfield), 6: Gregorio Puntarelli (Houston, Texas/Memorial), 5: Liam Sherman (Chicago, Ill.), 4: Brett McGettigan (Ventnor City, N.J./Holy Spirit), 3: Adam Sarhan (Egg Harbor Twp., N.J.), 2: Matthew Rought (Mason, Ohio/Mason), Bow: Edmund Lynch (Marietta, Ga./Walton).