The fall racing season has reached its peak for the men's crew team as they have just competed in two regattas in back-to-back weekends.

The team had an extremely successful spring season last year, including bronze medals won by both the varsity and novice squads in the Dad Vail Regatta, considered by most to be the national collegiate championship of rowing. Now, months later, after a loss of several senior oarsmen and a change in head coach, the team has found itself holding its own so far this season with one race to go before concluding the fall racing season with a dual meet versus rivals from the University of Cincinnati.

On Oct. 21, the team entered Boston after a 13-hour van ride to compete in the Head of the Charles Regatta, one of the largest regattas next to the Olympics. Over 200 teams participated, including the U.S. National Team and even a team from as far away as China. To say the least, it was 'some hefty competition,' sophomore oarsman Nick Piekarski said.

Races held during the fall are 'head race' style, where boats begin with a rolling start and race more against the clock than directly against the other boats. Nonetheless, Piekarski describes passing another boat 'an adrenaline rush,' saying that passing another boat makes you want to row even harder. Head races are also more long-distance races instead of sprints, as the Head of the Charles Regatta length was roughly 6,840 meters.

After a smooth row during the race, the Flyers finished 29th out of the 59 teams that competed in the men's collegiate 8+ division with a final time of 16:16.317. Alumni of the UD men's crew team noted that this year's time was one of the fastest in the fifteen year history of the club sport, according to Piekarski.

'It was a lot of fun. I never knew how big of a rowing city Boston was,' Piekarski said. The town was like a mini-festival that weekend, with food stands, shops, and a stage set up for various bands to play, Piekarski added.

The following Saturday, the team took the trip to Columbus, Ohio to participate in the Speakmon Regatta. Various Big-10 schools were present, such as Ohio State, Michigan and Purdue, along with a few local schools such as Miami (Ohio) Denison and University of Cincinnati.

Although not all the boats the team put in the river had the best of rows, a 4+ full of sophomores finished 5th overall in their respective race with a powerful team comprised of Piekarski, Mike Braman, Brian Conlon and Paul McNeil, coxed by Kate Athmer. You want to see tough athletes? Just look at these guys.

When asked to describe the rowing experience, Piekarski said 'People don't realize how hard we have to work. It's not just a physical sport'it's a mental sport. You have to push yourself to the extreme'You want to pull harder, you want to pull faster, even when you're body's hurting,' Piekarski said.

After last year's head coach Derek Copeland switched over to coaching the women's novice team, Mike Schena, a former UD grad as well as former rower of the team, stepped up to fill the vacant position.

'We're still getting used to a new coach,' Piekarski said. 'We're hoping for a really good spring season and we're hoping Schena (coach) can make us faster.'

Coaches Mitch Vossler and Nick Mihalik, the wise and fearless leaders of the inexperienced, yet promising novice team hope to push their freshmen rowers up to the varsity level by the spring season. The novice team ended up putting two boats in the Speakmon Regatta, both finishing with respectable rows, according to senior oarsman Justin Polacek.

Being a club sport, the team receives no funding from the university. Therefore, the team must raise money by doing fundraisers called 'rent-a-rowers', where members of the team do chores for families throughout the neighboring towns of Dayton. With only 12 guys on the team, dues are not nearly enough to fund everything that is needed, such as racing fees, boathouse fees and basic repair of their racing shells.

'People don't realize how rewarding the sport is,' Piekarski said. 'Nobody gives us credit.' Credit is definitely due to the men's crew team, as they work just as hard, if not harder, than any other team on campus.