2026 Men's Crew Season Preview

Photo by: AllMarkOne

3/25/2026 3:49:00 PM | Men's Crew

After a long offseason of practice and preparation, Brown men's crew readies for the start of its 2026 spring season later this month. The Bears are coming off a 2025 campaign in which the Varsity Eight earned fifth-place finishes at both the Eastern Sprints and the IRA National Championship.

"This team has worked hard through the winter months. The leadership has been strong throughout the squad," Men's Crew Norman W. Alpert '80 Head Coaching Chair Paul Cooke '89 said. "As a group, the training gains have been remarkable, and the improvements have been inspiring. Our seniors have really led the way and shown what it means to be committed."

Competition for spots in this year's V8 has been intense, with February and March practices often resembling mid-season races against Ivy League rivals. With a focus on technique, power, and endurance, the Bears have utilized their time on the Seekonk to experiment with different ways to generate as much power and speed as possible.

"I'm grateful for the work our coaching staff has put in," Cooke said. "The investment by Rufus Biggs and Nick Peterson in the formation of the team has been outstanding. Their attention to detail has helped build a high standard of focus and execution in practice."

Fall Slate

At the Head of the Charles regatta this past October, the Bears had several strong showings in the premier race of the fall. Brown’s Club Eights “A” boat, coxed by Vijay Ramakrishnan and stroked by Sean Egan, came in second place with a time of 14:24.977. The “B” boat, coxed by Rahul Ramakrishnan and stroked by Tilden Vaezi, finished in fifth place with a time of 14:38.855.

On day two in Cambridge, the Bears earned a tenth-place finish in the Championship Eights and a sixth-place finish in the Championship Fours. The Eight was coxed by Elenna Seguin and stroked by Davis Kelly, while the Four was coxed by Jack Mershon and stroked by Eddie Andrews.

Schedule

Bruno kicks off the spring season with a trip to Florida for the Sarasota 2K. The race is scheduled to take place from March 27-28 at Nathan Benderson Park, with Harvard, Yale, Washington, Stanford, and Northeastern all confirmed to be competing.

“Our racing schedule is loaded with opportunities to compete against the top programs in the country. This group enjoys pushing themselves, and they are prepared to represent Brown on the racecourse in Sarasota this weekend,” Cooke said.

From April 10-11, Brown will head to New Jersey for the Princeton Invitational. The lone home race of the season will take place on April 18, as the Dartmouth Big Green visit Seekonk for an Ivy League clash. The last race exclusively against Dartmouth was also on the Seekonk in 2024, where Bruno’s V8 and 3V8 each won their respective races.

A May 2 matchup with Princeton is next on the schedule, with the Bears looking to avenge last season’s 0.5-second loss to the Tigers in the Content Cup. The Eastern Sprints will take place on May 17, followed by the IRA National Championship in Gold River, California, from May 29-31.

Roster Breakdown

The 2026 Bears enter the season with 47 athletes on the roster, with 12 freshmen, 12 sophomores, 12 juniors, and 11 seniors. Brown returns all but three of last year’s Varsity Eight, including seniors Davis Kelly, David Person, and Tom Griffin.

Griffin earned Second Team Empacher-IRCA All-American honors last season, while Kelly was an Empacher-IRCA All-American Honorable Mention. In addition, ten returning athletes were recognized with Empacher-IRCA Scholar Athlete honors last season: Dom Valt, Cole Matlack, Tom Griffin, Mees du Croo de Jongh, Adelaide Poulson, Tristan Green, Nick Gaensler, Davis Kelly, Elenna Seguin, and David Person.

A freshman to keep an eye on this season is Luca Cassina. After helping Italy’s Eight secure a sixth-place finish at last year’s Under-23 World Championships in Poland, Cassina has been one of the handful of athletes competing for a spot on Brown’s Varsity Eight in 2026. He raced with the V8 at the 2025 Head of the Charles regatta, occupying the seventh seat in the crew.