Varsity Men

Port/Starboard/Scull

Oswego East High School

High School: Fourth Dan Blackbelt in Taekwondo.

Sophomore Year: Raced the M2x at ACRA.

Junior Year (2023-2024): Served as the Men’s Team Treasurer. Raced in the M2V8+ at Music City and Bald Eagle.

Favorite Memories:

Novice Year: Rowing the mixed men's 8 in ICRI, spring break, brass pro shop pyramid, Acra

Sophomore Year: Spring break, Nashville and the smokies with the boys

Personal: Member of Illini Formula Electric. Enjoys photography and reading.

Coxswain

Carroll Senior High School

High School: Ran four years of Cross Country/Track

Novice Year (2023-2024): Coxed the MN8+ at Music City, taking bronze.

Favorite Memories:

Novice Year: Winning the men’s team mustache challenge during spring break and breaking an apple open with his bare hands at Ikefast

Personal: Big Strava guy. Loves running, windmills, climbing trees, and celebrating Thanksgiving. Serves drinks at Illini football and basketball games. Works as an exam proctor for the physics department. Also a member of the Catholic Illini, Best Buddies, and Engineering Outreach Society. He says: “I can read and write in morse code and I play the violin”.

Port/Starboard/Scull

The Hill School

High School: Cross country runner, JV swimmer, coxswain.

Novice Year (2023-2024): Raced in the MN8+ at Music City, taking bronze. Raced in the MN8+ at Bald Eagle.

Favorite Memories:

Novice Year: Spring Break (especially the car rides) and lunch dates with Josh and Genna featuring Ella sometimes. Giving Tommy his daily hug.

Personal: Practices with a yo-yo, likes playing Pokemon on his 3DS. He says: “I can speak 5 languages!”

Starboard

Oak Park and River Forest High School

Novice Year (2022-2023): Raced in the MN8+ at ICRI and Redhawk Sprints (1st). Raced in the MN8+ at MACRA and ACRA.

Junior Year (2023-2024): Raced in the MV8+ at Music City and Bald Eagle. Also raced the MV4+ at Bald Eagle.

Favorite Memories:

Novice Year: Team breakfasts (Ikefast)

Personal: Eagle Scout. Member of the Illini Esports Overwatch Team.

Port

Lincoln-Way East High School

High School: Varsity Tennis and Hockey

Novice Year (2023-2024): Raced in the MN8+ at Music City, taking bronze. Raced in the MN8+ at Bald Eagle. Raced the MN4+ at ICRI, taking silver. Also raced the MN4+ at Lubbers Cup, MACRA, and ACRA.

Favorite Memories:

Novice Year: Spring break training, and ACRA with the MN4+.

Personal: Likes going on hikes, swims, running, and doing powerlifting. Enjoys working out, finding new music to listen to, and playing video games. He says “I am ranked Unreal in Fortnite.”

Port/Starboard

Loyola Academy

High School: Played 4 years of Men’s Water Polo and Swim/Dive.

Novice Year (2022-2023): Raced the MN8+ at Redhawk Sprints (1st) and ICRI. Raced in the MV8+ Class of ‘22 at ACRA.

Junior Year (2023-2024): Raced in the MV8+ at Music City and Bald Eagle, and the M2- at Music City, along with the MV4+ at Bald Eagle.

Favorite Memories:

Novice Year: Team dinners on Spring Break.

Personal: Member of Illini Water Polo. Enjoys running, swimming and taking naps.

Port/Starboard

Downers Grove North High School

Novice Year (2022-2023): Placed 1st in the MN8+ at Redhawk Sprints. Raced in the MN8+ at MACRA and ACRA.

Sophomore Year (2023-2024): Raced in the MV8+ and M2- at Music City and the M2V8+ and MV4+ at Bald Eagle.

Favorite Memories:

Novice Year: Broke an erg and got to sit out the last 3 minutes of a workout.

Sophomore Year: “Making s’mores with the team immediately after I got surgery on my hand (which I thankfully don’t have memory of)”

Personal: Enjoys lifting and getting 8 hours of sleep.

Port/Starboard/Scull

Paul D. Schreiber High School

High School: Luke “the Hound” Ficalora rowed all through junior high and high school, including coxing at an earlier age.

Novice Year (2023-2024): Served as Novice Captain. Raced in the M2V8+ at Music City.

Favorite Memories:

Novice Year: Spring break cook-out consumption

Personal: Certified EMT and member of the Liquid Rocketry team at Illinois. Also a member of Painting Club. Enjoys cooking. He is also known for his stylish fish themed footwear.

Port/Starboard/Scull

York High School

High School: Wrestled for 4 years, qualified for sectionals. Competed in Track & Field for 1 year: shotput, discus, and sprints.

Novice Year (2021-2022): Raced in the M4x at ACRA.

Sophomore Year (2022-2023): Raced in the MV8+ Class of ‘22 at ACRA. Raced in the MV8+ throughout the season.

Junior Year (2023-2024): Served as Men’s Team President. Raced in the MV8+ and M2- at Music City, taking gold in the M2-. Raced in the M2- and MV8+ at Bald Eagle. Raced in the men’s collegiate coxed 4 Todd Tisdale at Head of the Charles.

Favorite Memories:

Novice Year: “Earning a silver medal in the M4x at ACRA and visiting the bass pro shop pyramid after the spring break trip.”

Sophomore Year: “Racing through hail, high winds, and choppy water at MACRA in the MV8+ and visiting Nashville after the spring break trip.”

Junior Year: “Racing at Head of The Charles in the Men's Collegiate Four and earning an automatic bid.”

Personal: Enjoys long boarding and reading. Teaches ENG 100 orientation class for first-year students as an Engineering Learning Assistant. Minor in Computer Science.

Starboard

Naperville North High School

High School: Played on the Men’s Volleyball Team.

Novice Year: Raced in the MN8+ at ICRI, Head of the Rock, and Bald Eagle. Raced the Mix8+ at Redhawk Sprints. Raced in the MN8+ at MACRA and ACRA.

Sophomore Year (2023-2024): Raced in the M2V8+ at Music City and Bald Eagle. Studied abroad in Singapore during the Spring Semester.

Favorite Memories:

Novice Year: Spring break training trip to Georgia.

Personal: Member of AMA, Wishmakers, and Zero2One

Port/Starboard/Scull

Lakeview Academy

High School: 7 years of rowing

Novice Year (2023-2024): Raced in the M2V8+ at Music City.

Favorite Memories:

Novice Year: “All the fun team bonding over spring break! My favorite part was the men’s team mustache competition.”

Personal: Massive Taylor Swift fan and Hello Kitty enthusiast. He says: “I love building LEGOS and playing video games (especially Fortnite).”

Starboard

Bartlett High School

High School: Played 4 years of baseball, 4 years of marching band.

Novice Year (2021-22): 1st place in the U23 500m at Crash-B’s. Raced in the MN8+ at Head of the Rock.

Sophomore Year (2022-2023): Raced in the MV8+ at Head of the Rock, Bald Eagle, and Redhawk (1st). Served as Men’s Team Captain. Raced in the MV8+ Class of ‘22 at ACRA.

Junior Year (2023-2024): Served as Men’s Team Captain. Raced in the MV8+ and M2- at Music City. Raced in the men’s collegiate coxed 4 Todd Tisdale at Head of the Charles. Raced in the M2- and MV8+ at Bald Eagle.

Favorite Memories:

Novice Year: Racing in bucket hats at Head of the Rock and going to the bass pro shop pyramid on the way home from spring break.

Sophomore Year: Having a cat in his hotel room at spring break.

Personal: Vice president of the Illini Cubers club. Plays trombone.