Men's Crew Retains Donahue Cup

WORCESTER, MASS - This Saturday, the Ephs traveled to Lake Quinsigamond for the annual Donahue Cup, competing against MIT, WPI, Conn College, and Washington College in an exciting set of races. Williams brought a full squad to Worcester, four 8's and a 4+, with everyone ready to build off the previous week's racing.

It was a short and early day, with the 2000 meter racing starting at 9 AM and ending before 10. Lake Quinsigamond brought fair conditions of a moderate crosswind with occasional gusts.

The 1V eights started off the morning, and the Williams boat was the first to cross the line, defending the Donahue Cup for another year. The Ephs 1V put down a time of 6:10.94, followed by MIT (6:12.41), WPI (6:27.54), Washington College, (6:51.7) and Conn College (7:00.64). 3 seat Trevor Eckler '24 was happy with how his crew rowed, saying: "It was a great day of racing across the board. We were fast off the line with a solid lead going into the second 1k. MIT stepped up and pushed us to the line, resulting in an exciting finish with Williams up by 2 seats."

The 2V eights went off next, with the Ephs again laying down the fastest time. Williams finished 6:20.07, tailed by MIT (6:32.07), WPI (6:43.52), and Conn College (7:24.32). 2 seat Chris Pohlmann '27 saw promise in his boat's performance today: "We got out of the start quickly and extended our lead in the middle thousand with a strong base. This race was another good step for our crew as we work towards championship racing later this spring."

The 3V heat was composed of WPI and both the Williams 3V and 4V. The Williams 3V (6:33.9) won, with WPI (6:44.9) and the Williams 4V (6:46.35) close behind. 3V stroke seat Pablo Fox '25 said this about the race: I'm proud of the effort from the boat. Today, we showed we have solid base to build on for an exciting rest of the season."

While the 4V did not have another 4th boat to race against, bow seat Charlie Maier '26 was proud of how his crew did against 3V competition, saying: "After working hard this week in fours and reassembling our 8 from last week against Tufts, our ambitions were aimed high as we were poised to take on the WPI 3V and our 3V in one race. We were constantly trading blows with the WPI 3V throughout the first 1500, and although it's disappointing to lose by such a small margin, all things considered we had a solid day and we're looking forward to improving this lineup for next week against Wesleyan!"

The last event of the day was the coxed four, with MIT (7:28.93) going fastest overall. They were followed by Williams (7:36.18), WPI A (7:41.93), WPI B (7:46.42), and Conn College (8:19.44). It was the first race of the season for the coxed four, and 3 seat Neel Verma '27 thought the boat got off to a good start: "In terms of my first ever sprint race I couldn't have asked for anything better; the conditions were manageable, our boat felt fluid and powerful, and we had some great competition against MIT to really challenge us."

After a busy morning of racing, Eph head coach Marc Mandel reflected on the week's training, saying: "We had a productive week of practice, aiming to better translate our fundamentals to race pace with another week on the water. I was especially impressed with our fifth varsity four, which has improved by leaps and bounds."

The Ephs will now shift focus to preparing for next weekend's dual race in Saratoga Springs against Wesleyan University.

WMC Lineups

1V

Cox - Isabelle Shah '24
8 - Noah Phipps '25
7 - Will Densmore '26
6 - Owen Maier '25
5 - Michael LesStrang '26
4 - Jack Wagner '27
3 - Trevor Eckler '24
2 - Ben Floyd '25
1 - Elias Sienkiewicz '24

2V

Cox - Carina Sun '26
8 - Myer Liebman '26
7 - James Johnson-Brown '25
6 - Austin Connelly '25
5 - Dalton Peters '26
4 – Nyamekye Akosah '25
3 - Quinn Carroll '27
2 - Chris Pohlmann '27
1 – Trent Boone '25

3V

Cox - Christina Zhang '27
8 - Pablo Fox '25
7 – Logan McClennen '24
6 – Simon Socolow '26
5 - Alden Weaver '27
4 - Graham Napack '26
3 - Asher Rabinowitz '26
2 - Blaz Vavpetic '27
1 - Zach Cantrell '27

4V

Cox - Casey Monteiro '24
8 - Felix Diaz '26
7 - Mihr Mehrzad '26
6 - Louis Kabelka '24
5 - Ford Koles '25
4 - Brij Howard-Sarin '26
3 - Charlie Halverson '26
2 - Vaughn Sanders '26
1 - Charlie Maier '26

4+

Cox - Fiona Seibert '24
4 - Alden Rolfe '27
3 - Neel Verma '27
2 - Jay Thompson '26
1 - Arjun Talwar '26