Complete Results

CHERRY HILL, N.J. - The Mercyhurst University men's rowing capped off a fine weekend against stiff Division I competition at the Knecht Cup by capturing gold in the men's lightweight four event on Sunday morning. The event was held at Cooper River in Cherry Hill, New Jersey.

The lightweight four team, coxed by John Thiede and rowed by Ivan Palikuca, Xavier Alexander, Jake Schuppe, and Dave Cullmer, stood at the top of the podium on Sunday after finishing the race with a time of 6:51.63, nearly six seconds ahead of Rochester, who placed second in the event. The Lakers fought through rainy conditions to win what was the first final event of the morning. New York Maritime, George Mason, Penn State, and Lafayette rounded out the six teams in the final and finished in that order.

The Mercyhurst men's varsity eight team, featuring John Thiede, Ivan Palikuca, Dave Cullmer, Xavier Alexander, Jake Schuppe, Zack Pappas, Sam Rouse, Caleb Schuder, and Amel Younis, narrowly missed a top three finish in the Petite Final on Sunday afternoon, finishing fifth in a tightly-contested race. The Lakers six-tenths of a second behind fourth-place Delaware, and nine-tenths of a second behind third-place Lehigh. Mercyhurst finished with a time of 6:02.76, with Bucknell winning with a time of 5:54.54. Boston College finished second in the race.

The Men's Single event was run as an exhibition, with medals awarded to the first and second place finishers in each flight. Jeff Murt represented Mercyhurst in the second flight and missed second place by a scant two seconds, but had the third fastest time of both flights.

Also competing on Sunday was the men's freshman/novice four, comprised of Jessica Ritchie, Gary Loo, Amel Younis, Ben Urbanowski, and Doug Riethmuller. Mercyhurst finished sixth in the six-team Grand Final. Temple won the race, with Washington College and George Mason rounding out the top three.

“Overall, we had some mixed results this weekend,” said Mercyhurst head coach Adrian Spracklen.  “The varsity eights were challenged by the competition and I think everybody learned something from the experience, so in that regard Knecht Cup was a positive. We've still got a lot of work to do in the next few weeks.”

Mercyhurst will travel to Oak Ridge, Tennessee for the SIRA Regatta next Saturday and Sunday, April 21 and 22. The men will see some of the same competition they met this weekend, as well as southern programs like Jacksonville University.