Trey Farley
tlf001@marietta.edu
Both the men’s and women’s crew teams raced this past weekend at the Knecht Cup and both teams brought hardware back to Marietta with them.
On day one, racing was pushed back and some races were cancelled due to high winds and white caps on the water. Despite this the men’s varsity eight competed in their heat and advanced to the semi-finals on Sunday with a time of 6:28.99.
The women’s varsity four had their heat moved to Sunday morning and advanced to the grand final with a time of 8:09.42. The men’s varsity eight followed right after in their semi-final improving by 15 seconds. However, they were not able to advance to a final after coming in seventh place, bringing their weekend to an early end.
After a short rest the women got back on the water at 1:00PM for their final and were able to capture gold in the women’s four with a time of 8:02.49, overcoming a one length deficit at the thousand meter mark to beat second place finisher Bowdoin by almost four seconds. The winning lineup consisted of coxswain Loren Coontz, Mandi Medykowski in the stroke seat, Marissa Jeswald, Payton Wright, and Shelbi Westfield in bow.
“Being next to another boat the whole time we had to be really focused and we couldn’t take a single stroke off” Jeswald said. “It was such a great feeling to walk through (Bowdoin) in the last 250 meters.”
Marietta’s last crew to compete was the men’s junior varsity eight which competed in the varsity eight division two/three event. The junior varsity finished the course in 6:38.65 to win bronze in the event behind Mercyhurst University and rival Washington College. The junior varsity lineup sat coxswain Manning Shaw, stroke Michael Shrader, Sam Johnson, Evan Odom, Martin Hall, Richey Puntarelli, Scott Cressman, Trey Farley, and Max Mosey in the bow. This was Puntarelli’s second collegiate race and first medal ever in crew.
“It was a surreal experience unlike anything I’ve ever felt. The boat felt great and it felt even better to come away with a medal” Puntarelli said.
The men and women return to the water this weekend at the Southern Intercollegiate Rowing Association regatta in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.
