CLEVELAND, Ohio – The Mercyhurst University rowing teams traveled to Cleveland to compete in the Head of the Cuyahoga regatta to gain some early fall racing experience and everybody came home with a medal. The men's open eight, men's freshman/novice eight, and men's open four each won a gold medal; the women's open eight, and women's open four each earned a silver medal; and the second entry in the men's open four event earned a bronze medal.
Although the regatta did not run as planned, the rainy weather was not the culprit. This race, run on Cleveland's commercial waterway, was shortened from 5,000 meters to 2,500 meters because of two freighters that inadvertently parked on the race course. Regatta officials were able to adjust the course and fit all of the day's racing within the time allotted.
The men's open eight won their event against competition from Miami University, University of Dayton, and Ohio University. The boat of
Ryan Baniszewski,
Milos Veres, Gary Loo, Jonny Blazevic,
Xavier Alexander,
Jake Lennon,
Blaze Kelly,
Sam Rouse, and
Amel Younis finished the course in a time of 7:58.
The men's freshman/novice eight easily won their event over local competition from Cleveland State University. With a time of 8:18, the boat of
Kevin McCarthy,
Bernardo Ramirez, Nick Wnek,
Michal Blazejczyk,
Robert Long, Dan Evangelista, Matt Haisch, and Nick Wirth won by more than three minutes.
Mercyhurst entered two boats in the men's open four event. The A entry of
Brian Comey,
Kevon Bridges,
Zack Pappas,
Ben Urbanowski, and Doug Riethmuller won with a time of 8:43 while the B entry of Grant Greene,
Harrison Kieffer, Alex Walters,
Mitch Fairer, and
Damir Demirovic finished third with a time of 9:02, just two seconds behind the second-place entry from Three Rivers Rowing Association.
The women's team had a good showing against local Cleveland competition as well. The women's open four of
Laura Ebersbach,
Leyla Dombrowski,
Kate Moran,
Kristine Wright, and
Kate Castonguay finished second behind Western Reserve Rowing Association with a time of 9:54. Dombrowski, Moran, Wright, and Castonguay then moved immediately to the women's open eight where they were joined by
Allissa Porter,
Pia Frascatore,
Alexis Theuret,
Maggie Switzer, and
Mairead Manke to earn another silver medal with a time of 9:49, behind Three Rivers Rowing Association.
"The athletes had a good showing against challenging conditions and some decent competition," said head coach
Adrian Spracklen. "The level of competition we will face at the Head of the Genesee will be a few notches higher and we still have much to work on over the coming weeks and months, but it was nice that everybody got the taste of winning today."
The women and lightweight men will all travel to Rochester, New York for the Head of the Genesee on Saturday, October 5th where they will race Brown University, Syracuse University, and William Smith College among others.
