Men's Rowing to Take Part in Head of the Charles Race

SYRACUSE, N.Y.- The Syracuse University men’s rowing team travels to Boston, Mass. on Sunday to take part in the Head of the Charles Regatta. SU will have two boats competing this weekend with one entry in both the Championship Eight and Championship Four races.

The Orange enters this weekend after having two fourth place finishes at the Stonehurst Invitational on Oct. 9. Third year SU head coach Dave Reischman was pleased with his teams performance in its first race of the season and is looking for continued improvement this weekend.

“The goal of the fall for us is to race our best race at the Princeton Chase (Oct. 30),” he said. “Stonehurst was to get one race under our belt and see where we were at. Our goal for the Head of the Charles is to really concentrate on the middle part of the race and see if we can maintain our rhythm, length and focus through the crucial parts of the course.”

In the championship eight boat, eight of the nine crew members that rowed to a fourth place finish at the Stonehurst Invitational will be on the water together again this weekend. The only change to the eights line-up will be the addition of Ryan Armstrong (North Andover, Mass.) in seat two.

Joining Armstrong in the eight boat will be Tyler Page (Grimsby, Ont.), Terry Wilkin (King of Prussia, Pa.), Tim Mambort (Penn Ridge, Ohio), Dave Barone (Maumee, Ohio), Justin Stangel (Madison, Wisc.), Bartosz Szczyrba , Dan O’Shaughessy (Elizabethtown, Ont.) and coxswain Chad Taylor (New Milford, Conn.).

Reischman said that the Head of the Charles course is one that requires a strong performance from a crews coxswain.

“The Head of the Charles is one of those races where anything can happen coming down the course,” he said. “There are a lot of boats and a lot of sharp turns where having a good coxswain can pay huge dividends. Chad Taylor is a good man to have on the rudder for this race.”

In the Orange’s four boat, J.P. Geise (State College, Pa.), Joel Harrison (Fayetteville, N.Y.), Mike Beck (Cherry Hill, N.J.), Jimmy Bader (Fort Washington, Md.) and coxswain Tony Artz (Oswego, N.Y.) will look to claim the Championship Four Race.

Heading into this weekend, Reischman says he is pleased with his teams progression thus far, especially from his upperclassmen.

“Our psychological testing is on track and the guys are working hard at getting a little bit better each practice,” he said. “The juniors and seniors are training with a purpose and the sophomores started a bit slow but they are starting to figure out what rowing at this level is all about.”

Head of the Charles Line-ups

Championship Eight

1- Tyler Page

2- Ryan Armstrong

3- Terry Wilkin

4- Tim Mambort

5- Dave Barone

6- Justin Stangel

7- Bartosz Szczyrba

8- Dan O’Shaughnessy

C- Chad Taylor

Championship Four