Varsity Eight wins heat and advances to the semifinals at Dad Vails
Junior Varsity Eight's season ends with a fourth place finish in opening heat

May 11, 2007
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. — The Marietta College Varsity Eight moved one step closer to defending its Dad Vail gold medal with a first place finish in its open heat Friday (May 11) at the 69th annual Dad Vail Rowing Championships on the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia, Pa.

The Pioneer Navy, moved into Saturday’s (May 12) semifinal with a three second victory over its competition in the second of six morning heats. Marietta, the second seed, finished the race with a time of 6:06.61. St. Joseph (6:09.78) took second and also moved into the semifinals. Rhode Island (6:17.22), Minnesota (6:19.40) and George Mason (6:21.77) rounded out third through fifth and moved to the repechages. None of them advanced from there.

Marietta's Varsity Eight features 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. The Pioneers have six of the nine rowers back from the 2006 Varsity Eight. 2007 will be the final Dad Vail for six of the rowers.

Marietta, who won the inaugural race in 1934 and had victories in 1963, 1966, 1967 and 2006, will race in the second of three semifinals Saturday morning at 10:45 a.m. The Pioneers will go head-to-head with Army, Delaware, LaSalle, Lehigh and Loyola in its race. Top-seeded Temple and third-seeded Purdue will anchor the first and third heat, respectively.

This spring marks the 40th anniversary of the 1967 crew, which achieved the goal that the 2007 team will attempt to accomplish, when the crew successfully defended its 1966 gold medal at Dad Vails. Members of the 1967 shell will highlight a huge gathering that will be in Philadelphia to cheer on the team Saturday. The last school, besides Temple, to defend its title was the Coast Guard in 1978-79.

Head Coach Chris Pucella, who is in his second season with Marietta College, has prepared his squad for the challenge, concentrating on conditioning, drills and fundamentals—all necessary if they want to retain the gold at the prestigious event. Marietta is one of only two schools, Manhattan being the other, to bring crews to each of the past 68 races.

The Junior Varsity Eight, which featured freshman Mike Cress (Ventnor, N.J./Holy Spirit) at bow, sophomore Austin McIntire (Parkersburg, W. Va./South) 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 Matt Wilson (Johnstown, Pa./Westmont Hilltop) in seat six, freshman Mike Flanagan (Absecan, N.J./Holy Spirit) in seat seven, freshman Andrew Hazelrigg (Orlando, Fla./Olympia) at stroke and freshman Rita McCoy (Lansdowne, Pa./Archbishop Prendergast) at coxswain, had its season come to an end on day one of Dad Vails. The Pioneers took fourth place in their opening heat, crossing the line in 6:31.97. Lehigh won the heat with a time of 6:14.98. Jacksonville (6:19.85) was second and St. Joseph placed third.

The Dad Vail Regatta is the largest collegiate regatta in the United States, with over 100 colleges and Universities from the U.S. and Canada. Thousands of student-athletes visit the city of Philadelphia during the weekend of the second Saturday of May.