OCCOQUAN, VA – The Men's Varsity 8+ crew competed inaugural Atlantic Sprints hosted by the newly founded Atlantic Association of Rowing Colleges (AARC) on the Occoquan Reservoir throughout Sunday.
The Varsity 8+ started off Sunday by taking part in heat one of two going up against Marietta, Colgate and Loyola (MD). Heat two consisted of Marist, Saint Josephs, Jacksonville and Stetson with the top three teams moving on to advance to the Grand Finals later in the day while to bottom two teams would go on to compete in the Petite Finals. Florida Tech managed to take finish second in their heat covering the 2,000m course in 5:59.3 seconds just behind Colgate (05:53.8) and Infront of Marietta (06:04.3).
Joining Florida Tech, Colgate and Marietta in the Grand Finals were Saint Josephs (05:51.6), Jacksonville (05:53.8) and Stetson (05:56.9). Florida Tech was placed in lane five to begin the race beside Saint Josephs in the four lane and Stetson in lane six. The Panthers fell behind not to long into the race dropping back to fourth while eventually pulling ahead. Coming down to the final few strokes of the race Florida Tech and Jacksonville were Bow to Bow battling for third with one another until the Panthers pulled ahead right towards the end to take a spot on the podium for third and walk away from the inaugural AARC Sprints with a Bronze medal finish with a time of 06:09.7. taking home first was Colgate (05:58.7) followed by Saint Josephs (06:05.0)
Varsity 8+
Coxswain /
Elizabeth Bowman
8 /
Sandro Gardella
7 /
Justas Kuskevicius
6 /
Domantas Marocka
5 /
Omer Bayram
4 /
Joshua Navarro
3 /
Zach Judge
2 /
Arnedas Kelmelis
Bow /
Hayden Linke
UP NEXT: Florida Tech will be back on the water June 2
nd through June 4
th where they'll compete at IRA's in Mercer Lake, New Jersey.
For the latest news, updates and information on the Florida Tech men's rowing team, visit FloridaTechSports.com. Fans can also stay up-to-date on the latest Panthers news by following Florida Tech Athletics on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.
