Pioneer Navy completes day one at George Washington Invitational
Both the Varsity 8 and Junior Varsity 8 will row two more times on Saturday

Apr. 6, 2007
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Pioneer Navy is in the nation's capital this Easter weekend to compete in the George Washington Invitational on the Potomac River. On Friday (Apr. 6), both Marietta's Varsity Eight and Junior Varsity Eight rowed in its first of three races at the event.

Marietta's Varsity Eight, which featured senior Zach Stimart (McLean, Va.) at bow, senior Jon Carlon (Winter Park, Fla.) in seat two, senior Chase Graham (Mineral Wells, W.Va./Parkersburg South) in seat three, sophomore Mitch Paskawych (Marietta) in seat four, sophomore Andrew Norris (Dublin/Dublin Scioto) in seat five, senior Mike Ross (Fairport, N.Y.) in seat six, senior Eric Dowler (Washington, W.Va./Parkersburg South) in seat seven, senior Chuck Geyer (Springfield, Va./West Springfield) at stroke and sophomore Lydia Easterling (Tallmadge) at coxswain, fell to Virginia (5:36.2) in the first Varsity Eight race of the day. The Pioneers crossed the line in 5:408.

Michigan (5:28.7) won the second race with George Washington (5:32.2) and St. Joseph's (5:45.9) taking second and third, respectively. Temple (5:34.1) took first place over Gonzaga (5:35.9) and the Florida Institute of Technology (FIT) (5:50.1) in the final Varsity Eight race of the day.

Marietta's Junior Varsity Eight, which featured freshman Mike Cress (Ventnor, N.J./Holy Spirit) at bow, sophomore Craig Ripski (Claymont, DE/Concord) in seat two, freshman Steven Little (Seattle, Wash./Bishop Blanchet) in seat three, freshman John Porter (Potomac, Md./Walk Whitman) in seat four, freshman Kevin Wessler (Port Republic, N.J./Holy Spirit) in seat five, freshman Andrew Hazelrigg (Orlando, Fla./Olympia) in seat six, freshman Mike Flanagan (Absecan, N.J./Holy Spirit) in seat seven, sophomore Austin McIntire (Parkersburg, W. Va./South) at stroke and freshman Rita McCoy (Lansdowne, Pa./Archbishop Prendergast) at coxswain, took third in its race. Temple (5:47.4) edged out Virginia (5:47.8), while Marietta finished in 6:08.1.

Saturday (Apr. 7) will be a busy day as both crew will compete twice. The Varsity Eight will row against FIT at 12 p.m. and then take on Cornell and Michigan at 5 p.m. The Junior Varsity Eight has races against Michigan and Georgetown at 11:30 a.m. and then St. Joseph's and George Washington at 4:40 p.m.