PHILADELPHIA, PA - The Iona College men's rowing team made history Saturday afternoon, taking home medals in both the men's single and men's lightweight four events at the 2021 Dad Vail Regatta on the Schuylkill River. It is the first time in program history that Iona has won two medals in the event in the same year.
 
Freshman rower Oliver Sanchez kicked off the events with a first-place finish in the second heat of the men's single. Navigating through a tough headwind in the second half of the race, Sanchez' heat time of 8:02.94 was nearly 15 seconds ahead of the second-place finisher from Lafayette. He also held off boats from Oklahoma City University and Adrian College to advance to the finals in the early afternoon.
 
In the final, Sanchez found himself down a full boat length with 400 meters to go. He charged hard and fell just short of gold, completing the event 7:37.76. Sanchez' silver medal time was just over a second behind Lafayette senior Euan Walker. He finished ahead of rowers from Detroit Mercy, Temple and Oklahoma City.
 
For the Maroon & Gold it was the program's first ever medal at the Dad Vail Regatta in a single sculling event.
 
Iona's quintet of senior Dylan McMahon, juniors Francis Acolitse and John Swanson, sophomore Sergey Karpov and rookie coxswain Hayden Skigen earned bronze in the men's lightweight four event. Their time of 7:18.99 came in behind Temple University and Gordon College boats and ahead of Milwaukee School of Engineering.
 
The bronze medal earned in the lightweight four represents the "largest" boat to earn a top three spot since the 1983 Varsity Four, 38 years ago. Throughout the years, Iona has earned medals in pairs events in addition to this year's single. It is the first time since Christopher Palma '14 and Evan Johnson '14 won a silver medal in 2014.

regatta Results

Men's Collegiate 1x Heat 2
Pl.  School           Time   Margin
1.  Iona           8:02.94
2.  Lafayette      8:17.91    14.97
3.  Oklahoma City  8:26.12    23.18
4.  Adrian         8:42.54    39.60

Men's Collegiate Single Final
Pl.  School           Time   Margin
1.  Lafayette      7:36.74
2.  Iona           7:37.76     1.01
3.  Detroit Mercy  7:42.55     5.81
4.  Temple         7:45.91     9.16
5.  Oklahoma City  8:01.74    25.00

Men's Varsity Lightweight Four Final
Pl.  School           Time   Margin
1.  Temple         6:56.17
2.  Gordon         7:12.53    16.36
3.  Iona           7:18.99    22.83
4.  MSOE           7:36.90    40.73