Novice Men
Give a warm welcome to our 2024-2025 novices!
Aaditya Haridas
Coxswain
Palatine, IL
5’6”
Freshman - Electrical Engineering
Fremd High School
High School: Track and field
Novice Year (2023-2024):
Favorite Memories:
Novice Year:
Personal: Member of Illini Solar Car. Enjoys grappling, hiking, and skateboarding.
Andrew Pleiman
Port/Starboard
Rogers, AR
6’0”
Sophomore - Computer Science + Astronomy
Haas Hall Academy at the Lane
Novice Year (2023-2024):
Favorite Memories:
Novice Year:
Personal: Also of MATRIX (Illini Math Club), WPGU student-run radio station, and the Fashion Network. He enjoys sewing, photography, and astronomy. He says, “I’m in the top 500 of Beyoncé listeners on Spotify.”
Bakry Hisham
Port/Starboard
Cairo, Egypt
5’8”
Junior - Computer Engineering
Modern English School Cairo
High School: Club soccer
Novice Year (2023-2024):
Favorite Memories:
Novice Year:
Personal: He enjoys cycling and playing soccer. Also plays the guitar.
Daniel Elliot
Port/Starboard
New York, NY
6’7”
Freshman - Computer Engineering
Stuyvesant High School
High School: Volleyball and rowing
Novice Year (2024-2025):
Favorite Memories:
Novice Year:
Personal: Member of the Philosophy club. Also part of Special Interest Groups for Math and Algorithms (sigMA) and Artificial Intelligence and Data Analytics (sigAIDA). He also enjoys rec volleyball.
Ethan Vogel
Port
Evanston, IL
6’1”
Freshman - History and German
Evanston Township High School
High School: Two years of rowing
Novice Year (2024-2025):
Favorite Memories:
Novice Year:
Personal: Has an internship with a law firm and part of the chess team. He says, “I have three dogs and two cats.”
Ivan Schwieger
Port/Starboard
Town, state
6’7”
year - major
High School
High School: sports
Novice Year (2024-2025):
Favorite Memories:
Novice Year:
Personal:
Jack Li
Port/Starboard
Elk Grove, IL
6’2”
Freshman - Undeclared
Fremd High School
High School: Cheerleading state qualifier
Novice Year (2023-2024):
Favorite Memories:
Novice Year:
Personal: Part of the Taylor Swift Society. He says “I got into rowing by watching ‘Boys in the Boat’ on a flight to Scotland to see Taylor Swift.”
Jack Johnston
Port
Galatia, IL
6’4”
Senior - Political Science
Galatia High School
Novice Year (2023-2024):
Favorite Memories:
Novice Year:
Personal: Part of the Social Gaming Club. Enjoys hiking, cooking, and reading. He says, “I accidentally swam with dolphins once.”
Matthew Bermeo
Port
Chicago, IL
5’11”
Freshman - Civil Engineering
St. Ignatius College Prep
High School: Rowed for four years for St. Ignatius.
Novice Year (2023-2024):
Favorite Memories:
Novice Year:
Personal: Enjoys napping and listening to Drake. He says, “I think there’s nothing better than a hot tub and cracking a few cold ginger ales with the boys.”
Reese Polito
Port/Starboard
Medinah, IL
6’1”
Freshman - Undeclared
Lake Park High School
High School: Played tennis and volleyball.
Novice Year (2023-2024):
Favorite Memories:
Novice Year:
Personal: Plans to join a few pre law clubs and organizations.
Rohit Iyer
Port/Starboard
Elk Grove Village, IL
5’7”
Senior - Statistics and Computer Science
High School
High School:
Novice Year (2023-2024):
Favorite Memories:
Novice Year:
Personal: He really enjoys reading, especially about politics, history, and geography. He says, “I enjoy driving and find maps exciting.”
Saad Masud
Port/Starboard
Leesburg, VA
5’10”
Freshman - Electrical Engineering
Riverside High School
High School: Club fencing and rowing
Novice Year (2023-2024):
Favorite Memories:
Novice Year:
Personal: Member of American Nuclear Society, Illini Solar Car, Muslim Student Association, Bangladeshi Student Association, Euchre League, and the Chess Club.
Saarthak Jain
Port/Starboard
New Delhi, India
5’6”
Freshman - Mechanical Engineering
Modern School Vasant Vihar
Novice Year (2023-2024):
Favorite Memories:
Novice Year:
Personal: Member of Illini Solar Decathlon. He really enjoys listening to music, especially pop and alternative. He’ll watch any and every TV show and movie. Also likes making pasta.
Santiago Sanchez Castillo
Port/Starboard
Champaign, IL
5’11”
Freshman - Hospitality Management
Unity High School
High School: Soccer, wrestling
Novice Year (2023-2024):
Favorite Memories:
Novice Year: Seeing the sunrise at the lake for the first time
Personal: Member of Illini Boxing, barbell, forensics, campus band, and Film Score Orchestra. He says, “I love music.”
Sean Willuweit
Starboard
Chicago, IL
6’2”
Freshman - History
Lane Tech High School
High School: Three years of rowing with Chicago Rowing Foundation. Four time 3V Midwest champion with CRF.
Novice Year (2023-2024):
Favorite Memories:
Novice Year:
Personal: He was in the Boy Scouts, earning the rank of Eagle Scout. Also worked as a summer camp counselor at a boy scout camp. Member of Phi Alpha Theta, a history honor society. He says, “My favorite food is a Dunkin blueberry muffin.”