Gennaro and Mastracci Medal at World Championships

Syracuse rowing alum Natalie Mastracci '13 won a silver medal and a bronze medal at the 2013 World Rowing Championships in Chungju, Korea over the weekend, and Mike Gennaro '11 won a bronze.

 Representing Canada, Mastracci's four finished second in a time of 6:47.62 to the United States (6:43.15). Australia finished third with a time of 6:49.26.

 "It felt amazing," Mastracci told Rowing Canada Aviron. "After our preliminary race we felt we had some work to do, we did exactly that." 

 Mastracci was the only returning member of last year's silver-medal-winning Canadian eight from the London Olympics. 

 The United States won the women's eight in 6:02.14, followed by Romania in 6:07.04 for silver and then Canada in 6:09.34. Rowing Canada Aviron reported that Mastracci's eight was down off the start and rowed back into contention. 

 Gennaro's four also had to row from behind to get on the podium. According to USRowing, Gennaro's crew moved into second place at the 1,000-meter mark to challenge the Australian crew, only to have the Netherlands beat both boats for the gold. The times were the Netherlands in 6:13.95, Australia in 6:14.58 and the U.S. in 6:15.46.

 "The Australians had an unbelievable race," Gennaro told USRowing. "I still don't know much about this event and how it goes, but I have to believe that was some of the best rowing anyone ever had."

 You can find more on these races, including quotes from Gennaro and Mastracci, at:

 --row2k on Saturday's races, including the US four

 --row2k/Rowing Canada Aviron on the Canadian eight

 --Rowing Canada Aviron on the Canadian four



Photos courtesy of Rowing Canada Aviron and USRowing

New Coaching Hires Announced

Syracuse men's rowing head coach Dave Reischman has announced the hiring of Justin Stangel and Jason Cottingham to his coaching staff. Stangel, a 2007 Syracuse graduate, returns to his alma mater as assistant coach/recruiting coordinator. Cottingham, a 2008 Alabama alumnus, has been appointed assistant coach/director of operations.

 More information can be found on suathletics.com.

Syracuse women's rowing head coach Justin Moore has announced the hiring of Jim Lister as assistant coach. The UAlbany alum comes to Syracuse after coaching the previous 10 years at Duke, most recently as the Blue Devils' associate head coach and recruiting coordinator.

 More information can be found on suathletics.com.

Mastracci and Gennaro Win Gold in Lucerne

Syracuse rowing alums Natalie Mastracci '13 and Mike Gennaro '11 won gold at the recent Samsung World Rowing Cup III in Lucerne, Switzerland.

 Mastracci's Canadian four won the gold medal on Saturday in a time of 6:34.58, over two seconds ahead of silver medalist Australia (6:36.86). She followed up her gold medal win with a bronze medal performance in the women's eight, finishing in a time of 6:01.61, behind the gold-winning United States crew (5:54.16) and the silver medalist Romanian crew (6:00.42).

In the final of the men's four, Gennaro's United States crew led the entire race, finishing in 5:50.78 to win gold. Australia took silver in 5:51.63 and Italy won bronze in 5:51.70.

 To read more about Natalie and Mike's impressive performances, click on the following links from suathletics.com, rowcanada.org and row2k.com:

 Mastracci Wins Gold, Bronze at World Cup

Gennaro Wins Gold at World Rowing Cup

 Canadian Results Summary World Cup 3 - Day Two

Final Day: Canadian World Cup Results Summary

Eight Medals for USA Rowing at World Cup III

"Harry"



This is a blog where we write mostly about Syracuse crew/rowing. In a very real way the passing of Harry Parker is about that too. To point out that he was a strong influence on our excellent Coach Dave Reischman is to barely touch how "Harry" has affected all of us.

I never had the privilege of meeting the man but I choked up at the news of his death, even so. All of us who care about the sport owe a great debt to Harry Parker.

Here's a marvelous remembrance courtesy of row2k.com


And here are photos from rwo2k.com - some courtesy of our own Tracy Smith - of last weekend's reunion in Boston.



 Godspeed, Harry!

V8 Finishes Season 16th at IRA


Syracuse's Varsity Eight struggled in the third level final at the IRA today, finishing fourth - 16th overall. 13-seed Penn won the race by almost a length and Georgetown nudged its D.C neighbor George Washington for second. The 14-seed Orange were about a length back of GWU, with Oregon State and FIT bringing up the rear, within a length of SU.


Results for all races courtesy of row2k.com here: http://ira.qra.org/

SU 2V8 Fourth in Petite: Gets Top Ten Finish

Harvard outfought Cornell to take the second varsity eight Petite Final at the IRA with Wisconsin and Syracuse next. The Crimson gave up its lead to the Big Red briefly, then came back to win it in the sprint by half a length. Wisconsin's Badgers edged the hard-charging Orange boat by less than a second. Yale was fifth and Penn sixth.

Coach Dave Reischman's eight finished tenth overall, one spot higher than its seed going in.

Age Before Beauty; Cornell tops SU in Alumni Race

When you give another crew a 30 second head start in a 2,000 meter race it's just about impossible to catch up, even when the oarsmen average ten years older in that other crew. Syracuse's alumni eight with cox (Joe Peter, of course) made up all but a length or so on Cornell this morning, passing Cal in the process, but couldn't quite catch the Big Red.

Cal, averaging 62 years old, got an eight second start and the Orange rowed past the silver-haired Golden Bears at about the halfway point. SU was the youngest crew in the 3-boat event, averaging 59 years of age. The Big Red averaged 69.

V8 Second in Semi; Moves to 3rd Level Final

The Orange Varsity Eight led through much of the first half of a very tight semifinal but was passed by George Washington this afrernoon and wound up second, a seat or two back and just ahead of FIT. All three qualified for the 3rd Level Final. Drexel and Gonzaga finished fourth and fifth.

The 14-seed Orange will see GWU and FIT again tomorrow along with Penn, Georgetown and Oregon State which took the top three spots in the other final.

Lanes for 3rd Level Final: 1- FIT 2- Syracuse 3- GWU 4-Penn 5- Georgetown 6 -OSU

Results for all of today's racing courtesy of row2k.com here: http://ira.qra.org/


2V8 to Petites

The Orange second varsity eight was unable to keep up in this morning's semi-final, finishing last in a race won easily by Washington. Princeton and Northeastern join UW in the Grand final. Wisconsin was fourth, Penn fifth. They'll join SU in the 2V8 petite final.

Open Four Just Misses Grands; Goes to Petites

Syracuse and Oregon State fought bow ball to bow ball down the course this morning chasing Penn for the third and last Grand Final spot in the Open Fours. SU caught Penn in the sprint, but Oregon State blasted past both to the finish and took the Orange by less than half a length.. Cal won the semi, with Northeastern in second.

SU goes to the Petite finals on Sunday to face Wisconsin, Harvard, Gonzaga, Penn and Holy Cross.

2V, V4 Win IRA Reps: V8 Slips to Lower Level

The Orange Second Varsity Eight and Varsity Four with Cox had it when they had to this afternoon, winning their repechages on Lake Natoma and moving to the upper division of the semifinals. But SU's Varsity could not catch up with Wisconsin in a three-boat race and will battle on Saturday  for a spot in the third level final.

With just one spot in the upper semis available, SU's 2V8 battled Yale all the way down the course. The Eli led for the first half but the Orange rowed through and won it by less than a second. Stanford, Dartmouth, UCSD and Gonzaga rounded out the field.

In the V4+ Syracuse grabbed the semifinal spot by taking second place Princeton by open water, with Drexel and George Washington behind.

The V8 found itself up against Wisconsin and Gonzaga in the rep and the Badgers just had too much for the Orange. Coach Dave Reischman's men were just over a length behind.

SU's Open Four had already secured a spot in the semis by coming in third in its morning heat.

Official times courtesy of row2k.com here: http://ira.qra.org/

Orange 2V to Reps; Trails Cal and Northeastern in Heat

Syracuse's second varsity finished third in the morning heat on Lake Natoma and will have to get to the semi-finals through the repechages. California won the heat easily with Northeastern having a length on SU halfway through and taking the second qualifying spot. Navy was fourth and Gonzaga fifth as they saved energy for the afternoon.

Joining the Golden Bears and Huskies in getting through to the semis were Princeton, Harvard, Brown, Wisconsin, Washington and BU.