WORCESTER, MASS.—Williams Men's Crew descended on Lake Quinsigamond for the New England Rowing Championships on Saturday. The conditions made for a fast day of racing with a steady tailwind pushing boats down the course. Williams had a program-defining day, showing impressive speed in all boats, winning both the first and second varsity eights over Division 1 and 3 rivals, making them the New England Champions!
The day was divided into morning heats and evening finals. The goal for the Williams crews in the morning's heats was to ensure a placing in the grand finals with a top 2 finish required for the first varsity eight and top 3 finishes required in the second and third varsity eight. All the Williams crews took care of business, comfortably winning their respective heats to ensure a good seed for the grand finals. When asked how he was feeling after the second varsity eight's morning heat, two-seat
Noah Phipps quoted Kobe Bryant: "job's not finished."
The 4V was the first final of the day, racing against Holy Cross and Tufts, and with just 3 boats entered in their event, a morning heat was not required to determine seeding. Holy Cross quickly found separation, while Williams and Tufts battled down the course. Coming through the 1000-meter mark, Williams had a few seats over Tufts, but the Tufts crew found another gear coming through the last 250 meters and managed to pull ahead for a narrow finish ahead of Williams. "A result like ours brings a lot of mixed emotions. On one hand, we made up 7 seconds against Tufts in one week of training. We worked hard to hang with them off the starting line and up the intensity on our first 30 strokes. We battled through the first 1500 meters and got into the lead by really dialing in our new rhythm we'd trained for this week, said stroke seat James Johnson Brown. "On the other hand, when we started our sprint, they just had more left in the tank than we did. This is the kind of race that leaves you hungry for the next one, but I know we have what it takes to knock .8 seconds off that margin." The final results saw Holy Cross first in 6:11.380, Tufts second in 6:17.3, and Williams third in 6:18.1, less than a second behind Tufts.
The third varsity eight headed into their afternoon grand final after a solid morning heat. Holy Cross quickly moved away from Williams, while the Ephs fought with MIT early in the race. Williams began to find a rhythm coming through the middle of the race, progressively moving through the MIT crew and leaving the rest of the field behind, while Holy Cross maintained their first-place position. Despite a valiant push from Williams, Holy Cross would cross the line first in a time of 6:04.47 to Williams' 6:11.02. Bow seat and senior captain
Nick Iskenderian said: "Holy Cross had a strong start and put a gap on us that we weren't able to close. Still proud of our effort and happy to come home with a 2nd place finish. Any regret about our race was quickly thrown out the window while watching our top two boats take victories!" MIT was third in 6:13.8, next was Tufts in 6:21, Boston College in 6:34.6 and Coast Guard rounding it out in 6:41.7.
The second varsity eight, seeded second after the morning heats, looked to challenge an MIT crew they had already seen and face off against Holy Cross, a Division 1 team the Ephs had not raced yet this season. The Ephs had a strong first quarter of the race, coming through the 500-meter mark up on the field by a narrow margin of 3 seats over Holy Cross and MIT. The Williams crew would continue to take a few seats over Holy Cross while the rest of the field fell farther behind. Entering the last 750 meters, Williams had its largest margin over Holy Cross, sitting up 6 seats. Holy Cross mounted a strong effort, pushing back on Williams, and going up 1 seat with 200 meters to go, but the Eph resolve proved insurmountable as they fought back to cross the line in first place. Three seat and senior captain
Bernal Cortés reflected: "Heading into this race, we had the goal to just put our heads down and row the best piece we could, and I am so proud of this crew for doing exactly that. I couldn't have asked for a more exciting final New England's." The final times were Williams first in a time of 5:53.454, Holy Cross second in 5:53.524, MIT third in 6:01.9, Tufts fourth in 6:05.1, Bates fifth in 6:07.4, and Trinity sixth in 6:15.8.
The first varsity eight was the last race of the day. They were seeking to avenge an narrow loss to MIT from earlier this spring. Williams took control of the race early on, taking a few seats through the first 500 meters. The Ephs stayed focused and executed a great race, staying up on the field the whole way down the course, leaving no doubt as to who the fastest crew on the water was. "Execution was the name of the game today. We got to the line, kept our cool, and when the flag dropped, we did exactly what we knew how to do," said Coxswain and senior captain
Piper Higgins. "I think the crew handled the stress of the grand final incredibly well, and we were proud to have redeemed our previous loss to the MIT heavyweights. Beating Holy Cross, a very respectable crew, has been a highlight of my coxing career." Williams crossed the line first with the fastest time of the day: 5:44.9. Holy Cross was second in 5:47, MIT third in 5:49, Tufts fourth in 5:53, Bates fifth in 5:57, and Trinity sixth in 5:58.
Eph Head Coach
Marc Mandel offered this on the triumphant day: "What an incredible group of athletes! Their trust in the process was clearly evident today, as they all executed beautifully on the racecourse. Coach Marks and I could not be prouder of their effort and dedication."
The Williams Crew team also won the combined men's and women's overall point trophy with Bates in second.
Williams Men's Crew will return to Lake Quinsigamond next weekend for the National Invitational Rowing Championships to vie for the NESCAC Championship and a berth to the IRA National Championship.
FULL RESULTS HERE
Eph Lineups
First Varsity Eight: c-
Piper Higgins, 8-
Tad Montesano, 7
Gus Nordmeyer, 6-
Trevor Eckler, 5-
Owen Maier, 4-
Nick Ambeliotis, 3-
Riley Will, 2-
Collin Dent, 1-
Zola Baird
Second Varsity Eight: c-
Katie Friedman, 8-
Ben Washburne, 7-
Ben Floyd, 6-
Max Chayet, 5-
Austin Connelly, 4-
Trent Boone, 3-
Bernal Cortés, 2-
Noah Phipps, 1-
Theodore Tellides
Third Varsity Eight: c-
Margot Berman, 8-
Elias Sienkiewicz, 7-
Peter Miles, 6-
Nyamekye Akosah, 5-
Max Mallett, 4-
Pablo Fox, 3-
Robin Lamb, 2-
Sam Holmes, 1-
Nick Iskenderian
Fourth Varsity Eight: c-
Isabelle Shah, 8-
James Johnson-Brown, 7-
Ethan Kendall, 6- Lucas LaGiglia, 5-
Louis Kabelka, 4-
Pierre Cativiela, 3-
Salvador Robayo, 2-
Logan McClennen, 1-
Benjamin Ramsdell
