THE BASICS:
 
- Event: Knecht Cup
 
- Location: Cooper River (Cherry Hill, N.J.)
 
- The Lead: The MIT men's lightweight crew team captured two gold and one bronze medal at the Knecht Cup this past weekend. The Engineers won the Lightweight 4+ final and the Second Varsity 8+ Grand Final while the nationally-ranked No. 11 Varsity 8+ was third in the Grand Final. In addition, the Varsity 4+ finished fourth in the Grand Final as the Novice 4+ placed fifth in the Petite Final.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED:
 
- Rowing together for just the second time, the Lightweight 4+ logged a time of 6:55.58 to finish first in Sunday's final. They withstood pressure from Iona in the middle of the race and moved through them in the second 1,000 meters, crossing the finish line by a 3.71-second margin.
 
- The 2V8+ moved throughout its heat on Saturday, winning in 6:10.67 and besting Michigan by 2.88 seconds. In the Grand Final, the Engineers dominated the race and held off a late charge by Virginia, claiming the victory in 6:08.12.
 
- On Saturday morning, the V8+ was the runner-up to Colgate in its heat with a time of 6:05.74. MIT went on to win its semifinal in the afternoon, beating Michigan by 3.95 seconds (6:02.92 – 6:06.87). In the Grand Final on Sunday, the Engineers put together a strong race but could not catch up with first-place Colgate. The Raiders crossed the finish line in 5:52.54, followed by Mercyhurst (5:53.56) and MIT (5:57.15).
 
- The Varsity 4+ turned in a pair of strong performances during the weekend. In Saturday's heat, MIT finished third in 7:09.47, nine seconds behind winner Lafayette. The Engineers went on to place fourth in the Grand Final, edging out Lafayette by .31 seconds (7:11.87 – 7:12.18). LaSalle claimed the top spot, followed by Mercyhurst and George Mason, which was 4.2 seconds ahead of MIT.
 
- Despite facing adversity, the Novice 4+ had a good outing. In Saturday's heat, MIT finished fourth in 7:44.96, just over eight seconds behind Pittsburgh's third-place "A" boat. Battling rougher conditions during the Petite Final on Sunday, the Engineers placed fifth with a time of 8:06.49.
 
V8+
Cox: Alice Martynova
8: Nick Dow
7: Andrew Stoddard
6: Richard Sollee
5: Marc Rizk
4: Sasha Jovanovic-Hacon
3: Sam Costa
2: Cameron Dougal
1: Rick Ono
 
2V8+
Cox: Zhi Wei Gan
8: Jakob Jarczynski
7: Alexander Hom
6: Garrett Hegel
5: Kevin Shao
4: Sam Boshar
3: Dylan Robinson
2: Stephen Alexander Brennan
1: Luke Stewart
 
V4+
Cox: Alice Martynova
4: Kartik Donepudi
3: Eric Hong
2: Julian Zulueta
1: Mark Razanau
 
Lightweight 4+
Cox: Zhi Wei Gan
4: Garrett Hegel
3: Luke Stewart
2: Stephen Alexander Brennan
1: Aiden Render-Katolik
 
Novice 4+
Cox: Emily Wang
4: Josef Kirkman
3: Amir Kazeminia
2: Yicheng Huang
1: Joaquin Cruz
 
UP NEXT:
 
- MIT will compete in the Biglin Bowl on Saturday, April 16 hosted by Harvard on the Charles River.
 
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