March 30, 2008

SUNBURY, Pa. - The Franklin and Marshall rowers picked up wins over Susquehanna University on both the women's and men's sides on Sunday. The races were rowed on the Susquehanna near Sunbury.

The women's team won their event by a margin of 10.4 seconds. The crew (coxswain to bow) comprised of freshman Jan Heddens, freshman stroke Brittany George, Rebecca Weast, Erin Bradley, Alex Merrick, captain and senior Chelsea McIntyre, senior Sarah Clark, Kate Emert and freshman Caitlin Knierim in bow, rowed a steady race pulling away from Susquehanna from the beginning.

In subsequent shorter scrimmage events, the Diplomat rowers dominated by similar margins with freshmen Emily Gorrin and Victoria Davies replacing the two seniors.

The Diplomat men won the inaugural race for their newly Christened shell, the Tracy Calhoun Becker '88, by a margin of 6.7 seconds over the Crusaders. Rowing in the men's crew were senior coxswain Joseph Dernbach, senior stroke Ron Nahass, freshman Ian Clunie, freshman Patrick Maloney, freshman Conor Borak, freshman Ariel Reiter, Daniel Falciani, freshman William Riegel and Brent Schneider in bow.

After the first 2000-meter race, the men also scrimmaged for two additional 1000-meter pieces against Susquehanna with freshman Ho Hong Lau subbing in for Falciani. The Diplomats won both shorter pieces handily.

Only split times between competitors were recorded because of the fast flowing river which resulted in non-standardized race distances.

Head Coach Claus Wolter was pleased with his crews' first springtime performance noting that the women accomplished all of their goals. He also pointed out that the men's team believed they needed to work on several issues prior to the next race.

"Both the women and men's team have much they can improve on in upcoming races," said Wolter. "But today was a good beginning."

The Diplomats' crew travels to Chestertown, Maryland, next week to compete against Washington College and Washington and Lee University.