#1 Wesleyan Men’s Rowing Varsity 8 Captures Gold at New England Championship for the Fifth Time in Team History

WORCESTER, Mass. – The varsity 8 for the No. 1 nationally ranked Wesleyan men’s rowing team continues to roll as the Cardinals’ top boat captured a first-place finish at the New England Championships hosted at Lake Quinsigamond on Saturday. This marks the fifth time in team history (1967, 1987, 2004, 2019, 2024) that the Cardinals have won the Rusty Callow Trophy (New England Championship).

• RESULTS

Competing against every boat ranked in the Top 5 nationally, the Cardinals earned a spot in the grand final with a time of 6:04.20 in heat 1 of preliminaries. Racing in the grand final against MIT (competes at the D1 level in crew), No. 2 Trinity, No. 3 Tufts, No. 4 Williams, and No. 5 Bates, it was the Cardinals who surged past the finish line in a near photo finish over the runner-up MIT. Wesleyan clocked in at 5:57.59 to earn the win while the Engineers had a time of 5:58.88 and the Jumbos took third at 5:59.34.

The Cardinals’ 2^nd varsity 8 had a strong showing as well, finishing second in heat 2 of preliminaries with a time of 6:12.69. Racing against the same five crews as the varsity 8 in the grand final, the Cardinals managed a third-place finish with a time of 6:12.60, finishing behind only Tufts (6:09.27) and Williams (6:10.58).

Wesleyan’s 3^rd varsity 8 earned a silver in the grand final, finishing runner-up to the Jumbos with a time of 6:21.65. The Cardinals won heat 2 in preliminaries, crossing the line in 6:25.04 to earn a spot in the grand final.

Rounding out the competition for the Cardinals was the 4^th varsity 8 which finished third out of six boats, crossing the line in 6:22.60. Tufts’ A and B boats finished #1 and #2 in the 4^th varsity 8 race.

The Cardinals head back to Lake Quinsigamond next Sunday, May 12 for the National Invitational as Wesleyan looks to improve on last year’s third place finish in the varsity 8 race.

Featuring for the Cardinals on the day included:
Varsity 8 – Asher Israel ’26 (coxswain), Pierce Buckner-Wolfson ’26, Nelson Bellows ’26, Emmett Nunes ’23, Gus Shuman, Eli Smirin ’26, Paul Kiyonaga ’25, Hugo Harington ’25, and Brett Beaman ’26
2nd Varsity 8 – Ben Fischer ’27 (coxswain), Cory Reavy ’26, Nate Newcomer ’25, Freddie Bell ’25, Kiran Kling ’24, Eli Kooistra ’25, Max Ewing ’24, Josh Silbert ’26, and Cabot Adams ’27
3rd Varsity 8 – Meg Rubenstein ’25 (coxswain), Will McNally ’27, Andrew Steinert ’25, Taji Duncan ’27, Jack Cornog ’26, Nader Moghadam ’26, Haakon Kohler ’27, Evan Salhanick ’27, and Teddy Manning ’25
4th Varsity 8 – Mo Frazier ’25 (coxswain), Morgan Shatzman ’25, Tor Kushner ’27, Alex Glotzer ’25, Rowan Cahill ’26, Frank Castrofilippo ’27, Alex Kelsh ’27, Nick Jarrett ’25, and Ro Barrett ’26