Heavyweights Eager to Start Spring Season

Traditionally, the men’s heavyweight rowing team starts off its spring season by competing in the Ithaca Regatta. This year, however, the team will experience a change of pace after receiving an invitation to the selective Pac-10 Invitational where the squad will compete against California and Stanford.
“There is tenacity in this team,” said senior captain Dan Holodnik. “The guys are excited because they know that there is something for us to show to everyone.”
The heavyweights are coming off a strong season last year which saw two boats qualify for the IRA grand finals including the second varsity eight placing third in the National championship.
Despite the strong performance last season, the Red still wants to see more improvement this year.
“Our goal every year is to get every boat into the IRA grand finals,” Holodnik said. “In order to do that each boat has to finish in the top-6. But we don’t just want to get into the top-6, we want to win. It’s going to take a lot of work. But I believe it’s definitely in reach.”
The Red will be sending its top two varsity boats to the Pac-10 Invitational while the rest of the squad will still be competing in Ithaca.
The heavyweights will also be in Ithaca three more times this season to compete against George­town, Navy and Penn.
The squad is lead by Holodnik as well as seniors Derek Biederman, Andrew Carr, Peter Hearne, Tim Huth, James Janowski, Jonathan Mahler, Rob McCormack, Tyson Moyer and Scott Silverstein.
“Cornell rowing has a long and rich history,” Holodnik said. “And every year we try to keep performing well and build on that legacy. One thing we can always work on is to keep improving after each race. That’s very important and it can lead to a successful season.”
The Red showed improvement throughout the fall season and ended on a high note after it finished second overall in the Belly Bowl at the Belly of the Carnegie, held in Princeton, N.J.
The best individual boat finish for the heavyweight squad was the 4th place finish by the heavyweight 8 in its event.
The highlight of the fall season, however, was the victory by the varsity heavyweight four in the A Flight of the Syracuse Invitational.
The Red did well as a team but the heavyweight 4 lead the men to their only victory of the day.
“As we look into the season the guys are very confident,” Holodnik said. “Our fall season was solid but we know that we can do better this spring. We have a lot of goals going into the season, and we know that if we work hard then those goals will be in reach.”