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Syracuse men’s 2024 rowing season began with a weekend of races in the Pac-12 Invitational against No.8 Stanford, No. 20 Oregon State, and No. 1 California.

The Orange opened their season against co-host Stanford Saturday. SU’s varsity 8 finished with a time of 5:45.5 in the first race in the invitational, six seconds ahead of Stanford’s varsity 8 (5:51.5), which included five freshmen.

SU’s varsity 8 included Mack Carr, Declan Fry, and Jack Gorman, who were a part of the varsity 8 at the Henley Royal Regatta, as well as Isaac Evans and Joe Willis, who placed fifth at the 2023 Intercollegiate Rowing Association National Championship with the varsity 8. Michael Harris, Ethan Graham, Benjamin Campbell-Reide, and Sean McHugh filled out the rest of the boat.

Senior captain Lachlan Doust missed the races this weekend after an undisclosed injury and it’s unclear when he’ll return. On April 3, the IRCA named Doust as one of 24 Division I Rowers to watch this season.

Syracuse’s second varsity 8 also defeated Stanford’s second varsity 8 (6:05.5) by 11.5 seconds, finishing with a time of 5:54.0 on the 2000-meter course.

Sophomores Payton Gauthier, Cole Nordby, Luke Dunleavy, and Anders Erlandsen sat in the two, four, six, and stroke (eight) seats. Grad transfer student Max McFadden sat in the bow (first) seat while Joseph Biondolillo steered the boat as the coxswain. Beck Honebein, Stevie Chuck, and Alex DeGrado made up the rest of the crew.

DeGrado and Nordby were the only members of the 2v8 team that finished ninth at the IRA National Championship last year to race in the 2v8 this season.

In the second round of races on Saturday, Syracuse’s second varsity 8 beat Oregon State’s second varsity 8 (6:12.7) with a time of 5:53.6, 0.4 seconds faster than its race against Stanford.

The Orange finished the day undefeated after the varsity 8 took down Oregon State (6:09.4) with a time of 5:53.3, 16.1 seconds faster than the Beavers.

On the final day of races, Syracuse faced No.1 California in the most highly anticipated matchup of the weekend. Going into the race, both the Orange and the Golden Bears were undefeated in the varsity 8 and second varsity 8.

California swept Wisconsin, LaSalle, and Oregon State on the first day of races Saturday.

California (5:38.5) bested Syracuse by three seconds. The Orange finished with a time of 5:41.5, 11.8 seconds better than the same varsity 8 lineup that beat Oregon State the day prior.

California led Syracuse for the entire race after getting off to a fast start in the first 50 meters. The Orange lost to the Golden Bears by 5.9 seconds the year before in the Pac-12 Invitational.

In the weekend’s final race, the second varsity 8 lost to California’s second varsity 8 (5:46.4) by 6.8 seconds, 6.1 seconds slower than the distance between the two last season.

Last year, the Golden Bears beat Syracuse by only 0.7 seconds in the second varsity 8. Syracuse came in with a time of 5:53.2 this year compared to 5:42.1 the year before.

McFadden and Gauthier returned to the boat as the bow pair and alternates Reilly Eagan and Scott Zimmerman were substituted after racing against Oregon State on the first day of races.

The Orange return in two weeks in their first home race since 2019 on Lake Onondaga against Navy and Cornell in the 67th annual Goes Trophy.

Published on April 7, 2024 at 4:14 pm

Contact Quinn: qdpostma@syr.edu