WEST WINDSOR, New Jersey — The Marietta College men's rowing team concluded the 2023 spring racing season Saturday (June 3) at the Intercollegiate Rowing Association Championships on Mercer Lake.

The Pioneers entered crews in the varsity 4+ and lightweight 4+ divisions. Following Friday's morning time trials, racing was suspended for the remainder of the day due to weather. The delay resulted in the cancellation of the four semifinals sending both Marietta boats into Saturday finals.

The varsity 4+ crew finished 29th out of 32 entrants and advanced into the fifth level final. MC's lightweight 4+ crew finished seventh out of 11 shells and advanced into the Petite Final.

"We had really good racing out of both boats today. The water was rough today and the guys handled it well, especially since we almost never have rough water in Marietta," Marietta head coach Greg Myhr said. "In the lightweight race, Penn was off like a shot and we almost reeled them in, but not quite. The varsity four was a great race too. This time, Coast Guard got the jump and we didn't get as close to them as the lightweights did to Penn, but we rowed a really good race to take a decisive second."

In the varsity 4+ race Coast Guard jumped out to a two second lead on Marietta in the firsts 500-meters. They increased their lead to nearly five seconds by the midway point in the race. The Pioneers made a move in the second 1000-meters but couldn't completely overcome the Coast Guard and ended up finishing two seconds off the lead.

Coast Guard posted a winning time of 7:34.284, followed by Marietta (7:36.350), Georgetown (7:41.102), Williams (7:41.488), Catholic (7:43.256), Wisconsin (7:44.138), and Massachusetts Maritime (8:31.474).

The lightweight 4+ Petite Final followed a similar pattern. Penn grabbed the lead early and had a second and a half lead on the Pioneers. Marietta posted quicker splits over the final 1000-meters and lost by one second.

Penn's winning time was 7:29.465, followed by Marietta (7:29.629), Fairfield (7:42.067), and Gordon (7:43.249).

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
Varsity 4+ Fifth Level Final
1. Coast Guard (7:34.284), 2. Marietta (7:36.350), 3. Georgetown (7:41.102), 4. Williams (7:41.488), 5. Catholic (7:43.256), 6. Wisconsin (7:44.138), 7. Massachusetts Maritime (8:31.474).

Marietta: Coxswain: Duncan Fraser (Cleveland, Ohio/Saint Ignatius), Stroke: Gregorio Puntarelli (Houston, Texas/Memorial), 3: Kade Hennacy (Columbus, Ohio/Upper Arlington), 2: Benjamin Harper (Westerville, Ohio/Westerville South), Bow: Nikolas Simone.

Lightweight 4+ Petite Final
1. Pennsylvania (7:29.465), 2. Marietta (7:29.629), 3. Fairfield (7:42.067), 4. Gordon (7:43.249).

Marietta: Coxswain: Declan Garrett (Old Greenwich, Conn./Greenwich), Stroke: Joseph Madrid (Mineral Wells, W.Va./Parkersburg South), 3: William Hoffman (Brigantine, N.J./Holy Spirit), 2: Brian Bonifas (Rocky River, Ohio), Bow: Anthony Calandra (Nokomis, Fla.).