Written by: Zachary Worstell (zdw001@marietta.edu)
After a decade, the Pioneers are champions once again. The Marietta College men’s crew won gold at the Dad Vail Regatta in May. This is the first gold medal in program history since 2012. This gold medal as well as their performance in the Mid-Atlantic Rowing Conference (MARC) qualified them for an automatic bid for the Intercollegiate Rowing Association championship.
Earlier this spring, the Pioneers showed out in California. At the San Diego Crew Classic, Marietta finished 2nd in the qualifying race and 6th in the grand finale race.
The following event was at the Ithaca Duels. Here Marietta raced with the No.1 ranked Williams College and Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT). Marietta was able to defeat Williams B team at the Varsity 4+. However, ultimately finished 2nd overall in the Varsity 8+ events.
At the city of Brotherly Love, Drexel hosted an invitational. At the Schuylkill Invitational the Etta crew placed 3rd in the varsity 8+ events.
A doubleheader at Worcester Polytechnic Institute came up next. The first race’s field was made up of exclusively ranked teams. Which the No.6 ranked Pioneers faced the competition well. In race one, Marietta finished 3rd of 5 teams. And in race two, Marietta finished 2nd. Trinity College notched the win in both races.
In day two, Marietta raced three other schools including the No.4 ranked Tufts University. Tufts received the win in both races with the Pioneers beating out WPI and Connecticut College for 2nd in both events.
The Pioneers had a two-week break to practice for the MARC championship at the start of May. This extra time for practice paid off as Marietta earned three medals at the event. A silver in the 2V8+ and bronzes in the 3V8+ and V4+ placed Marietta 3rd overall in the final standings out of 11 teams. Marietta was the fastest Division III crew which gave them a bid for the IRA championship at the end of the month.
At the aforementioned Dad Vail Regatta, Marietta qualified for the grand finals with a win coming in the time trial and semi-final races. Overall, Marietta placed 6th in the Open Varsity 8+ but finished 1st and 6th in the Club/D3 Varsity 8+. This gave the Pioneers their 40th gold medal.
At the IRA championship Marietta struggled. While in the semi-finals they qualified for the level two final, out of six levels. They finished 8th in both V8+ events. In the V4+ event Marietta placed 33rd overall. Nonetheless, the team had an impressive year and earned a spot in the record books among the other Dad Vail Regatta champions.
