Men's Crew

Cards Enjoy Solid Spring Season as Varsity 8 Goes 10-4; Parker Cook '10 & Elliott Skopin '11 Honored

The final event of the spring racing season was the ECAC Collegiate Championships in Worcester Sun., May 9. There, the varsity eight placed 16th of 19 crews from throughout the country. Following the event, the ECAC named an all-star squad and Elliott Skopin '11 (photo insert lower right) was among the 20 individuals honored from the crews that attended. Skopin also received all-NESCAC second-team recognition following a vote of the conference coaches. Parker Cook '10 (photo insert lower left) was a first-team all-NESCAC pick.

Wesleyan began its spring racing by competing in a four-college race during its annual pilgrimage to Florida. The Cardinals came away a winner over Florida, Tenn.-Chattanooga and Rollins in both the varsity eight and varsity four events Sat., March 13.

Giving the Cardinals a four-second margin of victory over the nearly 2k Lake Maitland course in Winter Park, Fla. was the varsity eight squad of Sam Hoefle '13, Parker Cook '10, Elliott Skopin '11, Terrence Word '11, Ryan Brill '10, Spencer Hattendorf '12, Gilder Keeler '11, Trevor Michelson '13 and coxswain Rosemary Ostfeld '10. The Cardinals covered the course in 5:58 while Florida was four seconds back, Rollins nine seconds behind and UT-Chat. 20 seconds off the pace.

Doubling up as the varsity four, Cook, Skopin, Hattendorf and Keeler posted a solid 15-second margin of victory in the varsity four with a time of 6:29, Florida again was second (6:44), followed by UT-Chat. (6:47) and Rollins (6:58).

Wesleyan fielded a pair of second varsity eights which trailed Florida by margins of nine and 40 seconds. In the novice eight, Weseyan was third to Rollins and Florida but ahead of UT-Chat. The Cardinals also entered a novice four which fell to Rollins.

After more than a week's stay in Florida, the Cardinals returned north. The opening race of the New England schedule took the squad to Lake Quinsigamond in Worcester, Mass. where Coast Guard was the opponent Sat., March 27.

Wesleyan downed Coast Guard for the fifth consecutive year in their late-March dual race. The Cardinals covered the 2k course in 6:06.7 while the Bears were 6.5 seconds back in 6:13.2. Coast Guard did win both the second and third varsity events by margins of 13 and nine seconds, respectively.

Wesleyan returned to Lake Quinsigamond for a five-team affair Sat., April 3, taking on Colby, WPI, Middlebury and UMass Amherst. The Cardinals, then ranked fourth in New England, suffered a loss for the first time this spring as WPI, ranked third, pulled away for a nine-second victory. Wesleyan was 1.7 seconds ahead of UMass while Middlebury and Colby were 11 and 12 seconds back, respectively.

On Sat., April 10, the Cardinals made their annual trek to Malden, Mass. for a pair of dual races, facing two of the other three participants - Tufts, Bates and New Hampshire - while adding a race vs. Hamilton to the mix. The Cardinals easily out-stroked Tufts and Hamilton by nearly 25 seconds in those two races sandwiching a 0.4-second victory over 10th-ranked New Hampshire.

The Cardinals looked to give third-ranked Williams a run for its money when the teams collided in their annual affair, this year held in Worcester, Mass. Sat., April 17 rather than Pittsfield, Mass., where the teams had done battle the last five years. The race went the Ephs' way by a margin of 10 seconds, leaving the Cardinals with a 10-2 mark heading into the final dual-race of the regular-season.

Wesleyan ended up facing top-ranked Trinity and sixth-rated URI in the final dual race. The Bantams took the prize with a quick time of 5:56.6. URI wasn't far behind in 6:01.4 while Wesleyan came through in 6:04.1, just 7.5 seconds behind powerhouse Trinity.

At the annual New England Rowing Championships in Worcester Sat., May 1, the Cardinals' varsity 8 avenge its loss to URI a week earlier by finishing third in its heat, 0.7 seconds ahead of the Rams. In the grand final, Wesleyan placed sixth as Trinity, Williams and WPI remained the cream of the competition while Coast Guard and Bates rose to the occasion in out-stroking the Cardinals to the finish line.