Blue Hens Have a Strong Summer

This summer, many rowers from the Varsity Heavyweight and Lightweight squads kept up their training, rowing out of places such as Philadelphia and Boston, at boat clubs like Vesper Boat Club, Undine Barge Club, and Riverside Boat Club. Still others worked in a professional setting in their field, preparing for a great fall semester.

Reid Cucci made his second straight U23 LM4x out of Undine Barge this summer. After winning trials in the last 500 meters, he competed at the U23 World Championships in Rotterdam, placing 14th in a very competitive field. Well done Reid!

President Will Roman began training with Undine Barge, and supplemented his early morning and afternoon training with a full time job as a summer analyst with a Wealth Management firm in Philadelphia, showing both some summer speed and some summer knowledge. Also keeping up on summer meters and summer knowledge is senior Sam Vaca, who worked with a non-profit while preparing for a fast fall.

From the Class of 2018, members of both the lightweight and heavyweight squads rowed with Riverside Boat Club based in Boston, including rowers Cooper Hurley and Jamie Trunley, and coxswain Tristan Snow. The three raced at The Festival Regatta, Independence Day Regatta, Cromwell Cup Regatta, and Canadian Henley. Cooper Hurley and Jamie Trunley raced together at Festival Regatta, placing first in the Men’s 8+. Jamie also won the men’s 8+ at the Cromwell Cup Regatta, with coxswain Tristan Snow winning the Men’s 4+. Cooper Hurley placed 3rd in the U23 Men’s 4- at Canadian Henley at the end of the summer, where Jamie and Tristan placed 5th in the U23 Men’s 8+, capping off a successful summer for all three.

This past summer, rising junior coxswain Jacob Filby was invited to compete with the USRowing Under-23 Selection Camp in the hopes of earning a seat on the National Team. The camp, held in Hanover, New Hampshire and directed by the Dartmouth heavyweight coach Wyatt Allen, was to select the United States M8+ and M4- that would race at the U-23 World Championships in Holland. Four weeks of training with oarsmen from Princeton, Yale, California-Berkeley, and other top EARC programs allowed Jake to get a feel for elite level coxing and become comfortable in a selection environment. Despite missing out on the seat to a recent University of Pennsylvania graduate with Senior Worlds experience, Jake was the only underclassman coxswain and looks to continue his upward trend with the Delaware lightweights this year and work to gain another selection camp invitation for the 2017 season.

Demonstrating versatility on and off the water, rising junior Pat Canning from the Heavyweight Squad worked closely with Dr. Megan Killian from the Biomedical Engineering Department at the University. Pat worked with embryonic mouse limb development in vitro, and hopes to continue his research throughout the season.

Five oarsmen from the class of 2019 Lightweight Squad set off to bike across the country for some summer miles to maintain and improve fitness. Brian Peck, Adam Fingerhut, Jimmy McCullough, Kevin Conover, and Hanan Zisling recorded their progress from Virginia Beach to San Francisco on their instagram account. For 53 days the boys rode across the country, crossing through Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Kansas, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, and finishing in California. Relying on the kindness of strangers and some good old-fashioned hard work, the boys put in a measly 3,330 summer miles in preparation for the fall. Congrats on the accomplishment!

Sam Bacharach, from the class of 2019, rowed with the U23 Lightweight Men at Vesper Boat Club, racing in the Senior Light 8+. They placed First at Club Nationals and Fourth at Canadian Henley. Additionally, he placed second at the Independence Day Regatta and Fourth at Club Nationals in the Intermediate Light 4+.

New to UDMC, transfer Mark Couwenhoven rowed at Undine Barge Club as well, placing 3rd in the Open Men’s 4x at Independence Day Regatta, in a line-up also featuring Willy Marello, from the Class of 2018. Willy and Mark finished behind a quad that featured Will Roman and Reid Cucci, which placed 2nd in the same event. Mark also placed 3rd in the Intermediate Light 1x at Independence Day Regatta. Mark then went on to Race the Light 2x at U23 Trials, finishing second.

Willy Marello from the class of 2018 rowed out of Undine Barge Club this summer, whose sculling program consisted of two-a-day practices under University of Pennsylvania Assistant Coach Scott Wisniewski. Willy raced at Independence Day Regatta, placing 3rd in the Open Men’s 4x, and then again at U23 Trials, where he placed 5th in the Lightweight 2x. Well done Willy!

All in all, both the Lightweight and Heavyweight oarsmen demonstrated some well-rounded summer accomplishments and hard work in preparation for a fast fall and some of the best results in UDMC History. Let’s go Hens!