Head of the Snake Regatta 2024
On Saturday, October 5, the Aggies traveled out to Worcester, MA for the morning to compete at Head of the Snake. This comes 4 weeks after the Rockrimmon Regatta where the men's 1V8+ won the Open 8+ category. Here the Aggies had a showing of two Varsity 4+’s accompanied by a Varsity 8+. In addition to Varsity, the team welcomed the Novice squad running the 1N8+ along with the 2N8+. With a day starting off with a mist of rain and clearing up before races started, it provided the Aggies with a balmy 70° sunny day of racing.
Left to right: Brandon Burns, Max Johnson, Mitchell Cruz, Mark Legarda, Sam Sturdy
The first event for UMass was the Men's Collegiate 4+ where the team had to defend their first place spot from the prior year.
1V4+: 1st out of 13
The Men’s Varsity 4+, comprised of Mitchell Cruz (Coxswain), Sam Sturdy (Stroke), Mark Legarda (3), Max Johnson (2), and Brandon Burns (Bow), these men defended the team’s 1st place finish from last year, winning by over a 25-second margin to the 2nd place boat of Holy Cross.
2V4+: 9th out of 13
Following the 1V4, the 2V4+, Allison Olson (Coxswain), West Williams (Stroke), Jason Miska (3), Nicholas Parikh (2), and Jack Molinari (Bow), they placed 9th out of a 13-field category to round out the small boats for the morning.
Left to right: James Burnham , Luca Lasic, Ellis Stewart, Ryan Greenwood, Chad Zannotti, Graham Schwendt, Quinn Keating, Anders Borger, Ryan O’Meara
Next on the list of events for UMass was the Men’s Collegiate Novice 8 category.
1N8+: 1st out of 7
In the top Novice 8+, these men were on a mission to improve upon a 3rd place finish from last year. The boat, stroked by James Burnham, showed no mercy, walking past WPI and Mass Maritime taking 1st by 44 seconds. This was the start to the season these men (Chad Zannotti (Coxswain), James Burnham (Stroke), Luca Lasic (7), Ellis Stewart (6), Ryan Greenwood (5), Graham Schwendt (4), Quinn Keating (3), Anders Borger (2), Ryan O’Meara (Bow)) were looking forward to.
2N8+: 6th out of 7
The Second Novice 8+ finished out the novice racing, placing 6th with Vivan Kalik (Coxswain), Ryan Tessitore (Stroke), Augustus Elam (7), Andrew Olson (6), Adam Post-Montjoie (5), Edward Keen (4), Ismael Mendez (3), Ethan Holmes (2), Parikh Hebbar (Bow).
Closing out the day for UMass was the Men’s Collegiate 8.
1V8+: 19th out of 24
Finally, the V8+, stroked by Gage Lane, closed out the regatta with a finish of 19th of 24 boats in a highly competitive field of Division 1, Division 3, and other club teams. Kayan Volpe (Coxswain), Gage Lane (Stroke), Daniel Smith (7), Zachary Kirchner (6), Matthew Lavoie (5), Robert Mottau (4), Ahaan Singh (3), Marcus Larsson (2), Deylin Uysal (Bow)
Results: https://snake.qra.org/
