ITHACA, N.Y. – Colgate swept a pair of races from Ithaca over the weekend to continue its solid start to the 2021 season.
 
The No. 19 Colgate Varsity 8+ boat cruised to a nearly 17-second victory over their Bombers counterpart, while the Second Varsity 8+ won by more than 10 seconds.
 
"The team has been showing a great level of focus day in and day out," said Tom Feeney, who manned the No.6 seat on the first varsity eight. "Practicing this level of focus consistently has helped us progress in the right direction, especially with more time on the water.
 
"We have a really great group of young guys this year, and I am excited to see how we progress in the last few weeks of the season."

Focus Leads to Consistent Effort
Coxswain Tali Filstein said focus was the key to Saturday's performance.

"We've been working on staying focused and relaxed during our pieces to remember everything we've been working on and to keep our cool no matter what the other boats do," Filstein said. "We did a good job with that this weekend and executed our race plan nicely. 

"I really like how the team is coming together. There is a lot of consistent effort in every practice and every weekend, and it's clear that every person is actively thinking about how to make the boat faster everyday. It's always nice to see that effort, and I think it's going to pay off as we come toward the end of the season." 
 
In the second Varsity 8+, Harrison Ziegler said he is extremely pleased with how the team is coming together and what lies ahead.
 
"The keys to Saturday's strong showing included our continued practice on the water at Lake Moraine and the strengthening of trust among our crew to be able to succeed under pressure, having successfully completed winter training as a team," said Ziegler, who held down seat No. 6. "We have a young team with only one senior graduating this year, so I am optimistic about what a new group of incoming freshmen combined with our current team will accomplish in the coming years."


 
Here are the results of each boat:
 
Men's Varsity 8+
Crew: 1 Riley Heise, 2 Elliot Duessel, 3 Gian Civitello, 4 Lucca Figlioli, 5 Colin Clark, 6 Thomas Feeney, 7 Noah Barkoff, 8 Andrew Smith.
Cox: Tali Filstein.
Results: Colgate opened with an impressive victory in the opening race. The Raiders crossed in 6:10.8 to outpace Ithaca's finish of 6:27.6.
 
Men's Second Varsity 8+
Crew: 1 Ryan Pere, 2 Henry Bartol, 3 Rahul Bhandaru, 4 David McKay, 5 Everett Graves, 6 Harrison Zeigler, 7 August Girard, 8 Connor Appleyard.
Cox: Garrett Kalter.
Results: Colgate made it a Saturday sweep with another victory over Ithaca. This time, the Raiders posted a time of 6:48.7 to Ithaca's 6:59.5.