Marietta men capture a pair of fifth place finishes at SIRA Championship
Pioneer Navy back in action Saturday in Indianapolis

Apr. 22, 2007
OAK RIDGE, Tennessee — The Marietta College men's crew concluded its weekend at the 40th annual Southern Intercollegiate Rowing Association (SIRA) Championship Sunday (Apr. 22) morning on Melton Hill Lake in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, with a pair of fifth place finishes.

The Pioneer Navy, runners-up at the 2006 event, knew that it would need a fast start in order to be in contention for the Varsity Eight title Sunday. With that in mind, Head Coach Chris Pucella and the shell decided to alter their race plan. Instead of the 42 stokes per minute rate that Marietta usually begins its races with, the Pioneers increased the early tempo to 47 strokes per minute. The gamble got them off the line with Virginia, but the shell ran out of gas down the stretch and finished fifth with a time of 6:05.

"We could have rowed a safer race and medalled," admitted Pucella. "With six seniors in the boat, who have never won SIRA, we decided as a team to take an aggressive shot at it and just didn't have the energy at the end."

The Varsity Eight, which was seeded fifth at the start of the weekend, included senior Zach Stimart (McLean, Va.) at bow with sophomore Mitch Paskawych (Marietta) in seat two, senior Chase Graham (Mineral Wells, W.Va./Parkersburg South) in seat three, senior Jon Carlon (Winter Park, Fla.) 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.

Virginia took the championship with a time of 5:57. Temple (6:00) won the silver, Purdue claimed the bronze, while UCLA finished fourth.

Marietta had advanced to the final by winning its opening heat on Saturday (Apr. 21). The Pioneers finished with a time of 6:03.9. UCLA finished second in 6:09.6, while Texas (6:17.3), Dayton (6:19.1) and Michigan State (6:24.9) followed.

The Pioneers then placed runners-up in its semifinal race. Marietta (6:08.5) finished second behind Virginia (6:04.6), while FIT (6:11.2) was third. Temple (6:04.7) won the second semifinal with Purdue (6:07.5) and UCLA (6:08.0) also advancing to the finals.

The 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, also made Sunday's six-boat final. The Pioneers, like their Varsity Eight counterpart, finished fifth with a time of 6:28. Temple (6:09) won the race, with Virginia taking second, Jacksonville third, St. Joseph fourth and Georgia Tech sixth.

Marietta is back in action Saturday (Apr. 28) for its final tune up before defending its Dad Vail Championship on May 11-12. The Pioneers will travel to Indianapolis, Indiana, for the Indianapolis College Championship.