Men’s Crew Graduation Ceremony 

By Marissa Long

At the end of the race season and spring semester, the Men’s Crew had a special graduating ceremony that was organized by the coaches. The event was located inside the boathouse because there was some light rain outside. There were chairs set up for friends and family to attend. Head Coach, Scott Erwin began the ceremony and stated, “As you can see, we have a small team, but everyone got to row, even if they were injured.” The novices were the first to be recognized for their accomplishments from the previous season and were given new Long Beach shirts from the coaches.

Varsity members were next to be acknowledged. All four of the varsity members were recent graduates and three of the four would not be returning to row. Coach Erwin gave varsity rower and master’s graduate Mike Cervantes his own San Diego Men’s Crew shirt. Cervantes was unable to attend the Newport Regatta, where the team had won shirts, because of bad traffic. Coaches gave the varsity members new Long Beach shirts and gave the leaving members customized oar plaques with their majors and regattas they participated in. Lastly, Team President Ron Reyes-DiTraglia passed on the torch to varsity rower, Andres Boppell who will be the Men’s Crew President next season.

After the ceremony food was served and everyone enjoyed being together with their team, friends, and family. Reyes-DiTraglia opened his acceptance letter to King’s College London for his Master’s in Classical Art and Archeology and the whole team congratulated him on his future endeavors. He plans to continue rowing at King’s College. Overall, it was a great end to the spring season and the novices look forward to racing varsity in the upcoming season.

Novices pose with their new shirts beside coaches.

Leaving members (from left to right), varsity rower Ron Reyes-DiTraglia, varsity rower Mike Cervantes and varsity coxswain Marissa Long pose with their oars and coaches.