Delaware Defeats Penn and MIT

Delaware’s Varsity Lightweight Eight barreled across the line to capture a win against the fifth-ranked University of Pennsylvania and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston, taking their first victory over Penn since the 2014 season. The Quakers, coming off of a silver medal finish at the 2017 IRA National Championship, fell to the Hens by just over one second.

The combination of McCullough, Pereira, Hurley, Light, AbuAwad, Kungl, Buck, Marello, and Snow improved their spring record to 2-0; “We stuck to our game plan from the start: stay long, stay calm,” explained Nic Pereira ’19. “We set a good rhythm in the beginning and that showed as we moved on them throughout the piece and held that through the finish line.” Coxswain Tristan Snow ’18, the man with the plan, expanded upon that.

“The rest of the race was like football and we pile-drove,” he growled. “Quote that last part.”

Feeling confident and poised after spring break, the Varsity will continue to eke out speed and work their way up the EARC ladder when they take on Princeton, Temple, and Dartmouth next weekend. “We’re a club team but we put our unis on just like the rest of the teams we race; one leg at a time. Trying to gain a little bit more speed each week,” senior bow- seat Willy Marello shared.

For the Second Eight, they faced a tougher Penn crew and finished behind them by just under seven seconds, but well ahead of the MIT 2V. In a courageous effort, the Third Eight nudged past Penn to win by 0.7 seconds. “We won by about half a seat. It was tight. Penn had a killer last 500,” said Brendan Kaiser ’18, fireman of the engine room, after shoveling coal into the 3V’s locomotive steam engine. Rounding out the day, the Fourth and Fifth Eights took second and third in their race against Penn. A few hours south of Boston, the Heavyweights raced the Murphy Cup Regatta.

In a brutal headwind that roared throughout the afternoon, the Heavyweight Eight, composed of Ruggiero, Seidman, Malanoski, Trunley, Montreuil, Canning, Fraser, Rumaker, and Filby finished eleventh overall against top Dad Vail competition. St. Joseph’s, the 2017 silver medalists from the Vail, won by eight seconds over Drexel. “Rough outing after what had been a tremendous spring break. We didn’t handle the wind all that well and it showed, as we couldn’t keep the set in the last 600m and took on some water. We rowed hard, but that simply isn’t enough at this level,” Filby ’18 admitted after the racing. “These guys are really tough. I have no doubt we’re going to keep picking up speed and improving, it’s just a matter of when it’ll all come together. I am confident it’ll happen soon. We’ll keep pushing ourselves and the results will follow. Since it’s Easter weekend, I guess it’s best for me to say we have to keep faith.”

The Heavyweights have an off week from racing before seeing some of these same crews at the Kerr Cup on April 14th while the Lightweights aim to knock off Princeton, Dartmouth, and Temple in New Jersey next weekend.

Keep up with the Hens on Instagram at @Delawarecrew and check the website and Facebook for weekly updates throughout the spring.