Pioneer Navy wins Braxton Cup for fifth straight year
Marietta rowing concludes fall season

Nov. 9, 2008
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. — The Marietta College men's crew paid its annual tribute to the memory of a former rower by competing in the Bill Braxton Memorial Regatta Sunday (Nov. 9) afternoon on the Schuylkill River. The Pioneer Navy continued its dominance in the featured event of the regatta by winning the Bill Braxton Cup, which goes to the winner of the varsity lightweight eight title, for the fifth straight season.

The last regatta of the fall season on the Schuylkill, the Bill Braxton Memorial Regatta was founded by the Braxton family and friends to honor the memory of Bill Braxton, Jr., a popular and highly-motivated lightweight rower that attended Marietta College. In 1972, the Marietta lightweight 8+, in which Braxton rowed bow seat, finished second in the Dad Vail Regatta. The following year, with Braxton rowing seven seat, the Marietta lightweight 8+ went undefeated during the season and won the Dad Vail championship. Braxton was killed later that summer in an auto accident.

Junior stroke Andrew Hazelrigg (Orlando, Fla./Olympia), junior Mike Flanagan (Absecon, N.J./Holy Spirit), senior Mitch Paskawych (Marietta), freshman Jim Furl (Marietta), freshman Drew Schulte (Parma/St. Ignatius), freshman Matthew Newsome (Petersburg, N.J./Ocean City), sophomore Gregory Clair (Pittsburgh, Pa./Central Catholic), sophomore bow Michael Cute (Philadelphia, Pa./Roman Catholic) and sophomore coxswain Thomas Dougherty (Lansdowne, Pa./Monsignor Bonner) opened the morning with a win in one of two varsity lightweight eight heats. The Pioneers crossed the line in 5:03.73, ahead of Ithaca (5:11.30), Scranton (5:26.47) and Hiawatha Island (5:29.54). Marietta then closed out the regatta with a victory in the Braxton Cup by rowing a time of 4:44.83. Drexel (4:51.16) finished second, Ithaca (4:58.82) was third, Penn State (5:01.69) took fourth and Scranton (5:22.41) placed fifth.

In addition to the lightweight eight win, Marietta also captured first and second place in the freshmen/novice eight event. Stroke Patrick Cleveland (New Canaan, Conn.), James Smith (Atlantic City, N.J./Holy Spirit), Steve Williamson (Moon Township, Pa./Central Catholic), Henry Richard Fredericks (Seaville, N.J./Ocean City), Robert Hune-Katler (Marietta), James Inks (McDonald, Pa./Seton LaSalle), Tim Shields (Seaville, N.J./St. Augustine), bow Newsome and coxswain Sam Ellis (West Grove, Pa./St. Mark's) won the six-boat race after crossing the line in 5:01.31. Stroke Ethan Shoemaker (Westerville/North), Furl, Schulte, Ben Charley (Pittsburgh, Pa./Winchester Thurston), Charles Jordan (Bay Shore, N.Y./St. Anthony's), Brian Timlin (Aston, Pa./Sun Valley), Sean McKenna (Blue Bell, Pa./LaSalle), bow John Chester (Petersburg, N.J./Ocean City) and coxswain Tyler Stay (Bethel Park, Pa.) finished in second place with a time of 5:04.53. Bucknell (5:13.52) was the nearest competitor and placed third.

The varsity four, which featured sophomore Devin Turley (Herndon, Va./Westfield), sophomore Zach McGurk (Alexandria, Va./Bishop O'Connell), Paskawych, sophomore bow Daniel Bratton (Philadelphia, Pa./Roman Catholic) and coxswain Dougherty took fourth place in its event after finishing in 5:48.99. Temple won the race in 5:35.30, while St. Mary's (5:42.98) took second and Hiawatha Island (5:46.37) was third.

Marietta also had a second varsity four, which took second place in its race. Junior stroke Steven Little (Seattle, Wash./Bishop Blanchet), Flanagan, sophomore Stephen Baranoski (Meriden, Conn./Xavier), sophomore bow Zach Mateja (King of Prussia, Pa./Upper Merion) and coxswain Kendra Canter (Marietta) covered the course in 5:24.30, just under three seconds behind Penn A.C., which finished in 5:21.60 to take the victory. Temple (5:34.23) placed third.

The Pioneers also had a pair of runner-up finishes in the freshmen/novice four. Stroke Jordan, Timlin, Shields, bow Alex Sparta (Pittsburgh, Pa./Fox Chapel Area) and coxswain Stay finished in 5:26.37. Temple won the race in 5:19.55, while Hiawatha Island took third in 5:49.87. Stroke Cleveland, Charley, Fredericks, bow Smith and coxswain Canter crossed the line in 5:33.93 to place second behind Philadelphia, who won the race in 5:28.70. Penn state was a distant third, finishing in 5:43.06.

"Overall, it was a great weekend for the Pioneer Navy," Head Coach Chris Pucella said. "We won the races we were looking to win and got great effort from the whole team duing both days of racing. It was also very nice to see the freshmen/novice eight end the fall unbeaten. It is a tribute to all of the hard work that Assistant Coach Adam Cottrell and his young rowers have put in thus far."