Posted: Apr 08, 2018

Novice Men Impress in Crew’s Best Result of the Year

ESSEX, Mass. – Massachusetts Maritime Academy's women's sailing team had their best performance of the year and the Coach Francis X. McDonald shell was raced for only the second time, the first appearance for the boat in 2018. Meanwhile, the Buccaneers sent two men's crews out, one varsity and one novice, with the latter pipped by only three seconds.

"By agreement of all coaches, we revised the format for this early spring season regatta," remarked Head Coach Alex Machi. "[We] had each boat race twice in order to get a little more competitive experience, but we shortened the distance to 1,000 meters so as to get in twice the number of trips down the course. The athletes appreciated the opportunity to refine their race plans and hone their technique."

The women's varsity quad took out the McDonald and had two solid results. In the first flight, they finished just over 20 seconds behind hosts Endicott College. In their second flight, first-year cox Heather Gaughan led them to a finish just 30 seconds behind Endicott and 12 behind Bryant University's B crew. Cat Swan, Hana Haskell, McKenzie Hartman, and Brianna Caissie also raced for the Buccaneers.

"Our varsity women were first on the water and served up some great racing," noted Machi. "They were in their new shell, the Coach Francis X. McDonald—christened at last spring's New England Championships—for the first time this season and rowed it flawlessly."

MMA's Men's Varsity Four had similar results, finishing 36 seconds behind Gordon College in the first flight and 28 seconds behind Fairfield University in the second. Tyler Vito, Nicholas Mirabile, Quincy Smith, and Timothy O'Neill made up the quad, coxed by Ethan Logan.

The Men's Novice Quad had, by far, the best results, finishing a mere three seconds behind Endicott's B squad in their first flight. The 3:59 finish was the quickest of any flight for a Maritime boat.

William Nolan, Seth Lapriore, John Carey, and Jacob Awalt rowed in the four, which was coxed by Eric Higgins, the fifth freshman of the group.

"There was some apprehension among team members as we arrived at Chebacco Lake early morning with snow falling, but the precipitation ended before boats launched and we had good conditions through most of the day," observed Machi. "Not all teams had the same personnel or equipment in the men's events so we ad libbed a bit. Gordon rowed a coxed quad, which has a decided speed advantage over the coxed four used by all other crews at today's regatta. Still, every flight was hotly contested."

Crew will travel to Lake Quinsigamond, Worcester, Mass. next Saturday for Assumption College's meet, the Bucs' fourth competition of 2018. We will have more for you then, but in the meantime, bookmark www.mmabucs.com and get the inside scoop on Facebook and Twitter @mmabuccaneers. Plus, check out our new Instagram @massmaritimebuccaneers.

Gabriel Fidler, Sports Information Associate

Results by event:

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WV4+ (Women's Varsity Four with coxswain)

Bow – Patria 'Cat' Swan '20

2-seat – Hana Haskell '21

3-seat – McKenzie Hartman '20

Stroke – Brianna Caissie '18

Coxswain – Heather Gaughan '21

Flight 1 -

Endicott - 1st - 4:15.3

Maritime - 2nd - 4:36.0