Written by: Zachary Worstell (zdw001@marietta.edu)
Earlier this month the Marietta College Pioneers earned four medals during the Mid-Atlantic Rowing Conference (MARC) Championship in Cherry Hill New Jersey. The Pioneers won one bronze, two silver, and a gold medal which earned them an automatic bid into the Intercollegiate Rowing Association (IRA) Championships in California the end of May. This is the second straight year Marietta has qualified its full team for the IRA’s.
Marietta’s day began with the Women’s Varsity 8+ Heat which the Pioneer entry led by Avery Kurman finished 4th (08:22.877). The men competed in three heats and finished first place in each of them. In the Varsity 8+ Nicolas Invernizzi led the Pios to a 12 second lead finishing (06:08.550). Second place was MSOE (06:21.088).
In the second varsity 8+ Nikolas Passarella’s entry finished (06:11.476) ahead of the University of Delaware (06:16.534) for first place. The last heat was the Varsity 4+ where Marietta’s Zach Kirla (07:14.547) got first over George Washington (07:24.307)
The Finals of the MARC Championship started with the Men’s 2x. Marietta entered the duo of Freshmen Ryan Doyle and Connor Cuviello. They won a bronze medal finishing (07:57.340) behind both of Bucknell’s entries (07:31.410) & (07:53.500).
Marietta’s varsity 4+ was next and they also finished behind #2 ranked Bucknell, this time for a silver. Bucknell finished at (07:04.491) and Marietta went (07:13.753) beating four other schools.
Marietta struck gold in the Men’s Second Varsity 8+ as Marietta (06:09.406) managed to beat Bucknell (06:11.862). The varsity 8+ final Bucknell and Marietta battled with Bucknell slightly ahead at the 1000-meter mark but Marietta was able to draw even with the Bison and was bow ball for bow ball at the finish line. Bucknell eked out the win by five-tenths of a second. Bucknell (05:53.388) Marietta (05:53.900)
Overall, the men placed 2nd of 12 in the MARC with 81 points compared to Bucknell’s 83. As for the women they finished in 8th of 8 with 17 points while Catholic won with 46 points.
Men’s V8 Silver medal winners left to right, Bryce West, Nicholas Pachete, Benjamin Harper, Michael Swale, Rowan Schulde, Kyle Rucker, Nico Invernizzi, Alex Cathcart, Nicholas Sarno. 
Mens 2V8 Gold Winners left to right, Ryan Campbell, Jackson Roca Nikolas Passarella, Jacob Salvo, Connor Rothandler, Thomas Hart, Aidan Gatland, Graysen Brady, Nik Simonme. 
Mens 2x Bronze Winner Connor Cuviello (left) and Ryan Doyle (right) 
Men’s 4+ Silver Winners left to right, Rowan Streaker, Story Rufener , Mason Brewer, Zach Kirla, and Bryce West.
You can follow Marietta College athletics all year long at pioneers.marietta.edu. You can also follow the Pioneers on Facebook at facebook.com/MariettaCollege and @MariettaPioneer on X (formerly known as Twitter) and Instagram.
