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With or without, life is grand for Hobart fours
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Andrew O'Donnell |
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Drew Meunier |
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Richard Klein |
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Nate Kress |
June 2 , 2007
CHERRY HILL, N.J.—The Hobart crew team wrapped up the 2006-07 racing season with a strong showing at the Intercollegiate Rowing Association National Championships. The Statesmen varsity four without coxswain brought home the silver medal, while the varsity four with coxswain placed fifth in its grand final.
On Thursday, the four without earned a spot in the grand final by winning its preliminary heat, by passing Friday's repachages. Sophomore Andrew O'Donnell (Salisbury School/Ancramdale, N.Y.), junior Drew Meunier (Shenendehowa/Round Lake, N.Y.), junior Richard Klein (Staples/Westport, Conn.), and senior Nate Kress (Ithaca/Ithaca, N.Y.) covered the 2,000-meter course in a winning time of 6 minutes, 23.066 seconds, upstaging boats from Division I schools, like Brown, Michigan, Rutgers, and Temple.
In Saturday's grand final, the four without was three seconds behind the winning crew from Navy, but edged out Syracuse by more than half a second to claim second place. Hobart posted a time of 6:21.842. Wisconsin, Colgate, and Harvard rounded out the grand final finishers.
Because of the large number of entries, the varsity four with coxswains were put through a time trial, rather than traditional heats. Hobart's entry of sophomore coxswain Cary Wasserman (Salisbury School/Taconic, Conn.), senior stroke Mike Grenier (Brooks School/Methuen, Mass.), senior Paul Wasmund (Fabius-Pompey/Fabius, N.Y.), senior Sep Levatich (Ithaca/Ithaca, N.Y.), and senior bow Rob Reinheimer (Cheverus/Bowdoinham, Maine) sported the 10th fastest time, 5:36.715, at the end of the day on Thursday.
The effort put the Statesmen into Friday's semifinals. Hobart edged out Brown by less than five tenths of a second to take second behind eventual champion Cal. The Statesmen posted a time of 6:18.597. In the grand final, Hobart was fifth in 6:29.903, more than 10 seconds ahead of sixth-place UCLA.
Hobart also entered the freshman eight event. The only Division III entry, the Statesmen were last in their preliminary heat in 6:37.543. Later that afternoon they were last in their repechage in 6:35.184.
On Friday, Hobart beat out Michigan for fifth place in the third semifinal in a time of 6:09.316. While the crew didn't qualify for one of the three finals, the time was the boat's fastest of the season.
The freshman eight was powered by first-years coxswain Harrison Goldberg (Brighton/Rochester, N.Y.), stroke Carmen Cimini (Newport Harbor/Newport Beach, Calif.), Matthew Scanlon (McQuaid/Fairport, N.Y.), Chris Jenco (Naperville North/Naperville, Ill.), Andrew Fosbrook (Queensbury/Queensbury, N.Y.), William Bearse (Bridgton Academy/North Bridgton, Maine), Steven Valchuis (Brooks School/North Andover, Mass.), Francis Craig (Walt Whitman/Bethesda, Md.), and bow Richard Mable (Pomfret School/Pomfret, Conn.).