Pioneer Navy has strong showing on the Potomac River

Apr. 9, 2005
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Marietta College men's rowing team traveled to the nation's capital Saturday (Apr. 9) to compete at the 18th Annual George Washington Invitational. The weather made for near-ideal racing conditions and the thousands of fans in attendance were not disappointed.

The Pioneer Navy had four reasons to cheer after the morning preliminaries, as all four Marietta boats advanced to the Grand Finals.

Marietta's Varsity Four finished second in its opening heat with a time of 7:02.96 to advance to take on Navy, Virginia and Temple in the finals. The Pioneers rowed hard, but crossed the line in 6:48.10 to place fourth.

The 2nd Varsity Eight finished the 2,000 meter course in 6:06.51 to move out of the prelims and into the Grand Final, where it raced to a fourth place finish (5:57.40) against the Midshipmen, Owls and Cavaliers.

Marietta's Freshmen Eight also finished fourth in their Grand Finals race, crossing the line in a time of 6:11.20. The shell finished second in its prelim (6:09.71) to advance.

Eight Varsity Eight boats competed for four spots in its Grand Final. Marietta was able to secure one of those spots with a second place finish in its heat, thanks to a time of 5:50.15. The Varsity Eight was slow off the start in the Grand Final, fought back into the race, but ran out of gas and placed fourth. MC finished with a time of 5:40.50, just behind Georgetown (5:40.10). Navy (5:28.80) won the race and Virginia, who Marietta defeated last week, took second (5:35.10).

"We raced hard today," said 11th year Head Coach John Bancheri. "Every race was a good one. We rowed better in the morning, but that is how things go sometimes. We will continue to improve and am excited to get my team back on the water."

The Pioneers will look to tune things up in preparation for their next race, which is the SIRAs in Oak Ridge, TN. Action begins Friday (Apr. 15) and concludes on Sunday (Apr. 17).