Florida Tech Places Two Crews in Saturday’s Semifinals At IRA Championships

By  //  June 2, 2018

FIT battles against Navy, Pennsylvania, Temple, San Diego and Marist at 9:24 a.m. ET

On a cloudy day on Lake Mercer, Florida Tech men’s rowing concluded its first day at the annual IRA Championships this Friday afternoon, where the V8 and the JV8 boats earned a spot into Saturday’s Semifinals. (FIT Image)

LAKE MERCER, FLORIDA – On a cloudy day on Lake Mercer, Florida Tech men’s rowing concluded its first day at the annual IRA Championships this Friday afternoon, where the V8 and the JV8 boats earned a spot into Saturday’s Semifinals.

Entering the water first, the V8 boat of Jaiden Oropallo (cox), Jaime Rus Alba, Matas Lukoseuicius, Nikola Selakovic, Ljubo Gavric, Woody Sandhu, Zilvinas Visockas, Phillip Machen, and Dziugas Nienius ended the course with a fifth-place finish, clocking in at 6:00.861. Forwarding to the afternoon repechage, the Panthers fought hard to earn a spot into Saturday’s Semifinal, as the Melbourne boat crossed the finish line in third with a time of 5:47.337, only 00:09.9 seconds behind first-place finisher Boston.

In the junior varsity eight heat, the shell of Corine Roberts Gapinski (cox), Jacob Huffman, Mohamed Ben Sidhom, Billy Dietrich, Jace Petrowski, Darius Wilson, Jackson Moore, Christian Dossett, and Marcus Farley ended in sixth with a time of 6:15.631. However, the Panthers managed to work their way through the repechage to earn a spot in the M2V8 Semifinals after finishing the course in fourth with a time of 6:08.778.

Competing last for FIT, the Third Varsity Eight crew of Grayson Shore (cox), Gabriel Chamberlin, Chris Field, Julius Lesauskas, Logan Johnson, Richard Murlin, Spencer Kaspereh Somes, Clay Womack, and Nicholas Baney ended the qualifying heat with a time of 6:36.896 for a sixth-place finish. Moving into the repechage, the Panthers shell struggled to set the pace and fell short of Semifinals with a sixth-place finish.

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Tomorrow, the V8 will square up against Navy, Pennsylvania, Temple, San Diego and Marist at 9:24 a.m. ET, followed by the M2V8 shell, who will compete against George Washington, Pennsylvania, Bates, and St. Joes at 9:38 a.m. ET.

For more info, please visit FloridaTechSports.com or click HERE to access live coverage of the events.

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