Men's Crew Finishes Third as a Team at New England Championships; First Eight Places Fifth

Worcester, Massachusetts - This weekend, the Ephs returned to Lake Quinsigamond for the New England Rowing Championships, where they competed against a deep field of crews in a full day regatta. The 2000 meter races were all rowed under calm conditions without much wind. The First, Second, and Third Eights all raced heats and finals, while the Fourth Eight and Third Four races went straight to final.
 
The first race of the day for Williams was the Third Eight's heat, with the top three finishers moving on to the Grand Final. Wesleyan crossed the line first (6:25.038), but the Ephs secured a spot in the Grand Final by finishing second (6:27.108). Williams was followed by WPI (6:40.903) and Coast Guard (6:59.266).
 
Up next was the Second Eight's heat, again with the top three finishers moving on to the Grand Final. Williams got their bid to the Grand Final by finishing first (6:11.993). They were followed by Bates (6:14.557), Trinity (6:16.835), Coast Guard (6:28.584), Colby (6:36.245), Conn (6:54.941), and Vermont (7:13.221).
 
The last race of the morning was the First Eight's heat, this time with only the top two finishers moving on to the Grand Final. Tufts (5:57.269) won the heat in a close race but Williams (5:57.353) also secured a Grand Final spot. The Ephs were followed by WPI (6:12.373) and Middlebury (6:14.333).
 
The Third Four kicked off the afternoon's racing, with Williams taking home a decisive victory and crossing the finish line first with a time of 7:29.044. They were followed by Bowdoin (7:40.324), Boston College (8:00.746), Middlebury (8:35.154), and Wentworth Tech (9:02.796). Coxswain Ellia Chiang '25 was very pleased with her crew's performance, saying "The race was so electric. We had good flow from morning practice on Friday and it just carried into Saturday's race. The whole boat was pumped to race against the other 4's and we were excited to test our limits because we had never raced together as a line up. Everyone did so well and I'm proud of our hard work!"
 
Next up was the Fourth Eight Grand Final, where the Ephs finished fourth. Tufts' A entry won the event with a time of 6:17.746, followed by Tufts B (6:21.476), Wesleyan (6:22.596), Williams (6:28.370), Trinity (6:29.852), and WPI (6:40.796).
 
The Third Eight Grand Final was up next for the Ephs where they finished fourth. Tufts (6:16.970) came in first place. They were followed by Wesleyan (6:21.646), Bates (6:22.790), Williams (6:25.758), Trinity (6:28.376), and WPI (6:31.690).
 
The Second Eight Grand Final, where Williams placed second, again saw Tufts (6:09.268) crossing the line first. They were followed by Williams (6:10.580), Wesleyan (6:12.604), Bates (6:19.758), Trinity (6:23.820) and MIT (6:27.824).
 
The last race of the day for the Williams was the First Eight Grand Final, where they finished fifth. Wesleyan (5:57.585) won the final. They were followed by MIT (5:58.877), Trinity (5:59.337), Tufts (6:01.565), Williams (6:04.063), and Bates (6:04.609).
 
At the end of the day, Williams finished third total in points, behind Wesleyan (2) and Tufts (1). The Ephs will be in Worcester again next weekend for the National Invitational Collegiate Rowing Championships (NIRC) Regatta.
 
WMC Lineups
 
First Eight
 
Cox - Isabelle Shah '24
8 - Noah Phipps '25
7 – William Densmore '26
6 - Owen Maier '25
5 – Trevor Eckler '24
4 – Jack Wagner '27
3 – Austin Connelly '25
2 – Quinn Carroll '27
1 – Elias Sienkiewicz '24
 
Second Eight
 
Cox - Carina Sun '26
8 – Myer Liebman '26
7 - James Johnson-Brown '25
6 – Michael LesStrang '26
5 – Dalton Peters '26
4 – Nyamekye Akosah '25
3 – Ben Floyd '25
2 - Chris Pohlmann '27
1 – Trent Boone '25
 
Third Eight
 
Cox - Christina Zhang '27
8 - Alden Knox Weaver '27
7 – Pablo Fox '25
6 – Logan McClennen '24
5 – Alden Rolfe '27
4 - Asher Rabinowitz '26
3 – Simon Socolow '26
2 - Zach Cantrell '27
1 - Blaz Vavpetic '27
 
Fourth Eight
 
Cox - Casey Monteiro '24
8 – Graham Napack '26
7 - Vaughn Sanders '26
6 – Mihr Mehrzad '26
5 - Charlie Halverson '26
4 – Jay Thompson '26
3 – Neel Verma '27
2 – Charlie Maier '26
1 - Felix Diaz '26
 
Third Four
 
Ellia Chiang '25
Ford Koles '25
Brij Howard-Sarin '26
Kyle Gwilt '26
Arjun Talwar '26