Men's Rowing | 4/26/2009 11:16:00 AM

ROME, NY - The RIT men's crew squad raced on Saturday against Hamilton College. In the last regular season contest for the Tigers, the squad came away with impressive showings in all events. The Erie Canal course had no current and a calm wind for the varsity eight, picking up to a 5-10 mph tailwind for the remainder of the races.
 
In the varsity eight, RIT led Hamilton for the first 1,000 meters; however, as the race continued the Tigers progressively lost boat speed and coxswain Dan Knorr (Niskayuna, NY/Niskayuna) struggled to control the steering. Hamilton came away with the win in a time of 6:18.81, with the Tigers finishing in 6:30.93. After the boats docked, it was determined that the race warranted a re-row due to a styrofoam cup that became lodged in RIT's fin with 900 meters to go. Racing again, the Tigers' methodically pulled away from the host Continentals, posting a time of 6:03.48 to defeat Hamilton (6:22.57). RIT's line-up featured coxswain Knorr, stroke #Cameron Staunch (Fairport, NY/Fairport)#, seven seat #Kevin Macksamie (Rochester, NY/Gates-Chili)#, six seat #André Jarreau#, five seat #Justin Dixon (Factoryville, PA/Lackawanna Trail)#, four seat #Drew Lawlor (Erie, PA/Fairview)#, three seat Brett Fritzsch (North Haledon, NJ/Eastern Christian High School), two seat #Spencer Trafton (Brockport, NY/Brockport) and bow (Schaumburg, IL/John Hersey)Chris Guerra (West Seneca, NY/Canisius)#.

The Tigers' varsity four had a strong race against Hamilton. The line-up, comprised of coxswain Alyssa Mulholland (Newburgh, NY/Newburgh Free Academy), stroke #Bryan Abbott (Simsbury, CT/Simsbury)#, three seat #Stu Burgess (Buffalo, NY/City Honors)#, two seat #Jason Gallant (Clinton, ME/Lawrence) and bow (Schaumburg, IL/John Hersey)Bryce Salmi (Chelmsford, MA/Chelmsford)#, won their race in a time of 7:01.3.

RIT's novice boats also posted good results, with the A boat finishing first in a time of 6:16.0. They were followed by RIT B (6:27.31) and Hamilton (6:41.0). RIT A was comprised of #Cole Bowden (Bradford, MA/Havemill)#, #Matthew Hesselink (Fort Portage, MI/Kalamazoo Christian)#, #Evan Martin (McLean, VA/McLean)#, #Evan Moreshead (Saco, ME/Tharntan)#, Mark Menzenksi, #John Pagano (Philadelphia, PA/Roman Catholic)#, #Ben Kaiser (Medina, NY/Medina)#, #Anthony Castaneda (Fairfax, VA/Fairfax) and Mike Kitson#. The Tigers' B boat was made up of #Graeme Buckley (Penfield, NY/Penfield)#, #Paul Fisher (Wyoming, OH/Wyoming)#, #David Sonneborn (Syracuse, NY/Manlius Pebble Hill)#, Patrick Shand, #Brian Kesselmeyer (Gillette, NJ/Watchung Hills)#, Trent Seeling, #Sean Sutton ()#, #Sean Harder (Cheverly, MD/DeMatha Catholic) and Steve Halewski#.

The Tigers compete next weekend, on May 2-3, at the New York State Collegiate Championships held in Whitney Point, NY. Details for Saturday's heats can be found here later this week. The finals are scheduled for Sunday morning.