PHILADELPHIA, Pa. - The Mercyhurst University men's rowing team competed against Drexel University and Bucknell University on Saturday morning on the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia. Two varsity boats and a novice team competed in the three-team competition. Then, the Lakers rowed against the University of Pennsylvania in the afternoon.

All three morning races were 2,000 meters in length and were aided by a five-to-ten mile-per-hour tailwind.

In the novice race, Mercyhurst crossed the finish line in third place with a time of 6:53.3. Drexel won with a time of 6:05.9, holding off Bucknell, who finished second in 6:19.3. The Laker boat was comprised of Mitchell Fairer, Aaron Dowd, Alexander Walters, Nate Gervais, Connor Moran, Cornell Juliano, Jason Huang, Harrison Kieffer, and Elliott Baker.

The second varsity eight would then take to the water with the Lakers placing fourth out of four boats. Drexel fielded two boats in the event and their two squads finished 1-2 in the competition. Bucknell placed third, while Mercyhurst finished fourth in a time of 6:37.5. The second varsity eight boat was made up of Ryan Baniszewski, Gary Loo, Amel Younis, Ben Urbanowski, Blaze Kelly, Juan Avila, Xavier Stanish, Jake Lennon, and Doug Riethmuller.

The top varsity eight boat for the Lakers raced head-to-head with Drexel University. The Mercyhurst boat would come up short in the race, but kept it quite competitive against the boat from Drexel, losing 5:53.6 to 6:09.9. Making up the Mercyhurst boat were Jeffrey Thiede, Xavier Alexander, Milos Veres, David Cullmer, Jonathan Blazevic, Marcin Osajda, Jeff Murt, Kevon Bridges, and Zack Pappas.

"We're thankful to Drexel for allowing us to come race them today," said Mercyhurst head coach Adrian Spracklen. "Our crews rowed a clean race, but we still have a lot of work to do over the coming weeks."

The Lakers then raced head-to-head against the University of Pennsylvania in the afternoon. The races were also 2,000 meters in length with a variable headwind.

It was the second race of the day for both crews. Penn had earlier raced in the Matthews and Leonards Cups. Mercyhurst's lightweights would put up respectable showings against the talented Quaker lightweights during the three races.

The closest race was in the varsity eight, where Penn took a late lead and edged out the Mercyhurst boat by just over three seconds. The Quakers crossed the finish line in 6:06.3 while the Lakers came in at 6:09.9.

Penn's freshman team would win the second race of the day, competing against the second varsity teams of both Penn and Mercyhurst. The Quaker freshmen finished in 6:23.3 while Penn's second varsity team would hold off the Lakers by 11 seconds for second place in the event.

The third varsity eight was close throughout, but Penn would pull away late for a seven-second open water victory. The Quakers finished in 6:41.9 while Mercyhurst finished in 6:48.7.

The Mercyhurst lightweights will compete against the Columbia University lightweights on Sunday from Ridgefield Park, New Jersey.