The Raiders completely dominated the Philadelphia Frostbite and Bill Braxton Memorial Regatta last weekend, winning seven out of the eight races in which they competed.

At the Frostbite, the Raiders finished first in the varsity eight, varsity four and the novice eight. In the first race, seniors Peter Engebretson, Andrew Hatzenbuhler, Bryan Pape, Austin Sigety, Doug Herling, Isaac Goodling and sophomores Mark Robson, Marc Cassone, along with senior coxswain Mary Dekar blew past second-place Temple by over five seconds. The Varsity Four crossed the line at 6:50.03, 13 seconds ahead of second place Penn. First-year coxswain Kristen Stonehill, classmate Paul Vogelsang and juniors Parker Paulin, Oliver Jensen and Peter Leahey composed the Varsity Four boat. Colgate saved its best performance for last, as they thoroughly dominated the competition in the Novice Eight race. The boat clocked in a time of 6:34.53, beating out second-place Rochester by 14 seconds. Washington, Lafayette, Binghamton and Dowling rounded out the competition. The Raiders finished over 200 feet in front of their nearest competitor.

The Raiders also competed at the Bill Braxton Memorial Regatta. The men won all three of the Varsity Four races, and the Novice Eight continued their remarkable weekend by blowing out Temple by fourteen seconds. Unfortunately, the Varsity Eight lost to Temple by one-tenth of a second.

Assistant coach Matt Hanig attributes the success to the leadership of his senior class.

“The guys worked really hard this season, starting with day one,” Hanig said. “We had a lot of seniors leading the way and it is very exciting to see them have such success this late in their careers.” He went on to describe how great it is that the first-years are able to witness such achievement so early in their college careers. Off-season workouts begin in the winter, with the goal of increasing team speed for the spring season.

So where do the Raiders go from here?

“We like to set very lofty goals, especially after such a successful campaign this fall,” Hanig said. “Essentially, we just want to step up to the next level and face tougher competition. It would be great to get up there and battle teams such as Harvard or Yale and really challenge ourselves.”

After such performances like the ones witnessed last weekend, such goals no longer seem so unrealistic.