SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY -- The RIT men’s crew team closed out the fall head racing season this past Sunday at the Head of the Fish Regatta in Saratoga Springs. The Tigers had three of four boats entered earn top ten finishes.
The varsity eight finished fourth in the eighteen boat field, racing the 3,400m course in a time of 11:04.54. The line-up featured coxswain
Dan Knorr (Niskayuna, NY/Niskayuna), stroke
Kevin Macksamie (Rochester, NY/Gates-Chili), seven seat
Mark Menzenski (Ithaca, NY/Ithaca), six seat
Justin Dixon (Factoryville, PA/Lackawanna Trail), five seat
Cameron Staunch (Fairport, NY/Fairport), four seat
Matt Hesselink (Kalamazoo, MI/Kalamazoo Christian), three seat
Jon Shannon (Lunenburg, MA/Lunenburg), two seat
George Spragins (Brockport, NY/Brockport), and bow seat
Bryan Abbott (Simsbury, CT/Simsbury). Hobart won the event with a time of 10:55.96.
The second varsity eight boat placed third in the junior varsity event. Their time of 11:38.31 earned them a bronze medal, behind Hobart (11:22:40) and Williams (11:23.43). The Tigers were powered by coxswain
Graeme Buckley (Penfield, NY/Penfield), stroke
Stu Burgess (Buffalo, NY/City Honors), seven seat
Anthony Castaneda (Fairfax, VA/Fairfax), six seat
Ben Kaiser (Medina, NY/Medina), five seat
Evan Moreshead (Saco, ME/Thornton Academy), four seat
Pat Shand (Nanuet, NY/Nanuet), three seat
Paul Fisher (Wyoming, OH/Wyoming), two seat
Michael Kitson (McLean, VA/McLean) and bow
Sean Harder (Cheverly, MD/DeMatha Catholic). Both varsity boats had solid races, providing momentum in gearing up for the spring season.
The novices also had strong performances for the Tigers, finishing 8th and 25th, respectively, in the twenty-seven boat field. TJ Binotto, Nate Sweet, Mike Young, Pat Lambie, Sam Fisher, Chris Donnely, Matt Parker, Chris Massey and
Peter Bryan () powered down the course in 12:11.64. Alysha Helenic,
John Pagano (Philadelphia, PA/Roman Catholic),
Alex Bradley (Hopkinton, MA/Hopkinton), Zach Kramenzle, Luke Menillo, Mike Kucer, Geoff Metzger, Josh Prahler and DJ Herbele navigated the course in 13:48.87.
The Tigers raced a mixed alumni boat, comprised of crew alums Ellen Cretekos ‘07, Sarah Exley ’08, Chris Frey ‘07, Erin Fredericks ‘07, Colleen Gillette (St. John Fisher ’10) and Peter Sulcs ’05, M’09. RIT coaches Nick Baish (Marist ’04), Brendon Evans ’08, and Fredyne Yust (St. Lawrence ’05) M’09 filled out the line-up. The boat powered down the course with a time of 12:55.6, and came off the water feeling good about their race, finishing 5th of seven crews.