While most students were enjoying their time off of campus and away from the herd this summer, the men’s crew team was hard at work preparing for their summer competitions. Both the varsity 8 and the freshman 4 had particularly stand-out performances, finishing with silver medals in the 2017 ACRA National Championship in Gainesville, Ga. in late May. In addition, Nicole Finan ’17 placed seventh in her very first race in the women’s single.

Contributing to the impressiveness of the team’s finish was the fact that this year’s regatta was one of the most densely packed competitions in history. Thirty-eight teams came to compete, making the Bison’s second place finish even more notable. Rowing first varsity for the Orange and Blue was Nick Barpoulis ’17, Sam Jubb ’17, David Dayya ’20, John Leasure ’19, Drew Stonnington ’19, Dillon LaFata ’18, Billy Pinamont ’17, Ryan McSherry ’19, with Henry Leonardi ’18 in cox. The race was highlighted by the Bison’s stunning last-minute push to clinch the silver and finish 0.08 seconds in front of Virginia.

After such exciting finishes in Gainesville, many members of the team also traveled to England to compete in the Henley Royal Regatta. This is only the third time in program history that the team has made this trip, which was another exciting highlight from their summer campaign.

“I believe the team will have a different attitude towards training,” said Michael Pallota ’17. “After the 2016-2017 campaign and its results, we, as a team, set a new standard for ourselves and for the future members of the team. We hope that we are able to perform to the best of our abilities every day with a championship at the end of May as our main priority.” The crew team will see two new seniors provide leadership as co-captains this year; Dillon LaFata ’18 and Pat Long ’18 will be in charge of the squad as they move forward.