Colgate University’s men’s rowing team saw two boats cross the finish line and take home the gold at the Knecht Cup Regatta held annually in Camden, N.J., over the weekend of April 12 and 13. In their first major spring competition, the Frosh/Novice Four and the Second Varsity Four teams prevailed, besting Stetson University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, respectively, at the finish line.
The Frosh/Novice Four team landed Colgate’s first gold of the day on Sunday, April 13. The win came early as the crew of five took a lead over the other competitors at the 500-meter mark. The Raiders stood strong, holding their lead to the finish line.
The Frosh/Novice Four won with a time of 7:27.14 holding over a five-second advantage over the silver medalists, Stetson, getting second with a time of 7:32.90. The Colgate team showed promise being able to best Stetson, who had the first overall time on Saturday, April 12. Other teams the Colgate rowing team was able to beat included Lafayette College, University of Connecticut, University of Massachusetts and Case Western University.
First-year Evan Cecere shared how the atmosphere felt at the beginning of the race and afterwards, emerging victorious.
“The atmosphere was exciting and with it being our first spring race, we really wanted to show out and perform. It felt great to win the race and to have our hard work pay off,” Cecere explained.
The team started off on the right track in their Saturday Heats. The Frosh/Novice Four took first in their heat with a time of 8:14:87, only falling second overall to Stetson, finishing in 8:08.38. The team was able to succeed in their heat because they were ahead of all the crews at the 500-meter mark, and held on, finding open water on all crews by the 1,000-meter mark. With over 46 seconds ahead of Carnegie Mellon University, George Mason University, University of Pittsburgh and University of New Hampshire, it was clear that the final would secure the Frosh/Novice Four with gold that Sunday.
The Second Varsity Four final had similar impressive results on Sunday. With a time of 7:08.12, the team triumphed over all the other crews by over sixteen seconds. MIT followed, 16.82 seconds behind, with a time of 7:24.94.
Initially, the 2V4+ team started behind MIT and Lehigh but successfully pushed past both. By the 500-meter mark, the crew was able to take the lead over Lehigh and at the 1000-meter mark, Colgate overcame MIT, reaching an open water gap.
The Second Varsity Four earned Colgate’s second gold, in a quick turnaround after just winning the first gold of the day at the Frosh/Novice Four final one hour prior.
The young teams show much promise, creating a positive synergy between underclassmen and upperclassmen on the team.
First-year Mel Farrell spoke about his perspective on the relationship between the novice and the more experienced on the team.
“We have a young team with a lot of talent that has a bright future in the sport, and that shows a lot of promise. By having these eager athletes coming in and starting off the spring season strong, it helps drive the upper class to want to become better,” Farrell said.
He also described how the upperclassmen inspire the first-years and sophomores in return.
“Upperclassmen like [junior] Luca Williams inspire this first-year class to put in extra work outside of practice, teaching us the importance of persistence,” Farrell added.
When talking about specific training techniques and team-building strategies that were able to lock in the success, Cecere talked about maintaining a regimented routine.
“Our consistent training and the sheer volume that our coach and team produce during practice each week were key to our success on the water,” Cecere said.
While the Men’s Varsity Eight did not achieve gold, they also showed promising results. In their Saturday heats, the team was able to make it to the petite final against Fairfield University and Ithaca College. They clocked in at 6:30.52, facing a close competition against MIT, Mercyhurst University and Ithaca. They trailed behind MIT and Mercyhurst, but the boat was able to secure third in their heat by less than a second over Ithaca.
In their petite final that Sunday, The Varsity Eight earned silver with a time of 6:04.09 versus Ithaca (6:03.44) by less than a second. The entire competition found the Raiders and Ithaca head-to-head. Ultimately, in the last hundred meters, Colgate fell short to Ithaca, but was at the finish line 30 seconds before Fairfield.
When discussing how they are hoping to channel this success the rest of the spring season, Cecere shared his optimistic outlook.
“These wins gave us the confidence we needed to carry into future races,” Cecere said.
First-year Gabe Simmons also weighed the rest of the season.
“Our next few regattas vary in competition. Some of the schools are tougher to beat, and it will be hard to go up against them, but there are also schools that will be easier to take. Overall, it will be fun to compete and see where the team goes” Simmons said.
The team traveled to California for the Santa Clara duals on April 19, where they put in another strong performance but came up short of the gold in both boats. They travel to New Rochelle, N.Y., on April 26 to compete in the Metropolitan Spring Championships. This article was written on April 22.
