Men's Rowing finds success on second leg of AC-DC tour

Oct. 3, 2004
ATLANTIC CITY, NJ - The Marietta College men's rowing program set out on a five day trip to the northeast over the school's four-day break to compete in two events and get in some valuable practice time. Head coach John Bancheri tagged the trip the AC-DC tour, because of the scheduled stops in Washington D.C. and Atlantic City, NJ.

Prior to Marietta's departure Friday, it found out that the Head of the Potomac in Washington D.C. was cancelled due to the flooding caused by Hurricane Jeanne. The crew instead headed straight to Atlantic City for an extra day of training prior to the first Shore Boy Regatta, set for Sunday (Oct. 3).

Over 150 men and women rowers from Drexel University, Lehigh University, and MC raced a 2.8 mile head race and a 1,000 meter sprint race. The event got its Shore Boys name because the coaches of the three participating teams are former local high school oarsmen Drexel's - Lou Renzulli (Holy Spirit), Lehigh's - Paul Savell (Holy Spirit), and Marietta's - John Bancheri (Atlantic City).

"We came up with the idea sometime over the winter because we thought that it would be a great experience for our teams," Bancheri said. "I always bring some of my team members out here to practice during our fall break, so I figured why not schedule the regatta for the same time we were already scheduled to be here."

The ability to practice on the course the day before the event proved to be advantageous, as Marietta captured the top two spots in the event, which consisted of 10 boats, five from Marietta.

The Pioneers' top boat took first place in both the head race (13:49) and the spring (3:43) to win the event with a total time of 28:41. The value of the sprint race is 4x and added to the head race time for overall.

The boat sits from bow, Matt Henwood (Malvern, PA/LaSalle), Evan Tsourtsoulas (Kastoria, Greece), Chuck Geyer (Springfield, VA/Washington), Kyle Fitzgerald (Brigantine, NJ/Holy Spirit), Michael Ross (Fairport), Mark Dolson (Barrie, ONT/St. Josephs), Robert Johnson (Margate, NJ/Atlantic City), stroke Chuck Gowdy (Egg Harbor Township, NJ/Holy Spirit) and coxswain Joe Lincke (Woodlyn, PA/Bonner).

Marietta's second shell took third in the head race (14:14) and second in the sprint (3:49) to place second overall. Lehigh's second boat finished third overall (29:52), placing sixth in the head race (14:40) and third in the sprint race (3:48).

The Pioneer frosh will return to action Saturday (Oct. 9) in an alumni race at 9 a.m. Marietta will christen the James Stephens Memorial Dock at 8:30 a.m. The Varsity men will compete at the Head of the Charles Oct. 23-24 in Boston, MA. The Navy Blue & White are seeded 17th behind #16 Syracuse and in front of #18 Virginia.