PHILADELPHIA (4/19/03) - The Saint Joseph's rowing teams cemented themselves as the Program to beat in Philadelphia as the men's and women's teams combined points to win the Murphy Cup Point Trophy on Saturday on the Schulykill River. All eight SJU boats advanced from the heats to earn places in the Grand Finals highlighted by gold medal performances by the Men's Freshman 8, Women's Freshman 8 and Women's Light 4. The Men's Freshman 8 and 2nd Freshman 8 advanced through their heats easily. In the final the Hawks "A" boat had control right from the start. With 500m gone they aleady had a length open water on the field of Temple, Lehigh, Bucknell, SJU Lightweights and Mercyhurst. In the end the Freshman Heavies beat second place Mercyhurst by 8 seconds. The Freshman Lights finished a solid 4th place in the heavy event beating Lehigh's and Villanova's heavyweight freshman. The Varsity Lightweight 8 met up with archrival Fordham for the third time this year, as well as Bucknell, for this three boat final. The Hawks led the field at the 1000m pole but Fordham turned this into a two boat race leaving Bucknell 200m behind. The Hawks and Rams fought stroke for stroke through the island. Unfortuantely the Rams pulled ahead at the finish by 2 seats. The Varsity Heavyweight 8 has gotten faster and faster every week. Two weeks ago they lost to 2002 Dad Vail Champion Dowling College. This week they beat Dowling in a race that will look similar to competition in the Dad Vail Final. The Heavyweights raced the final against Temple, Drexel, Rochester, Villanova and Dowling. At the start, Temple took a slight lead by the Starwberry Mansion Bridge, with SJU and Drexel bow ball to bow ball and Dowling on the stern. By the end of the race Dowling could not come back from the leaders early burst. Temple finished first, with Drexel second and two seats back the Hawks in a strong third place. The Women's Freshman 8 dominated the field in the heat and in the final. In the heat they rowed a powerful, long 2000m winning by two or three lengths of open water. In the Final they led Delaware, Bucknell, Temple, Lehigh, and Mercyhurst by a length at the Starwberry Mansion Bridge. In the end they bested 2nd place Delaware by 11 seconds. This was a strong showing for our freshman women who rebounded from an off weekend last week. The Freshman Women's Four also had a great day of racing, advancing from the heat easily to face Dad Vail foes Delaware, Johns Hopkins, Bucknell and Pitt in the final. They fell behind early rowing in fifth place by the boathouse, but made their move and pulled through Pitt and Bucknell to finish in third place. The Women's Varsity Pair had a rough go of it. The wind and chop were up for the women's pair race which bobbed these small boats around like corks. The Hawks took a length lead on LaSalle, who edged the SJU Pair last week, by the 500m. This turned into a two boat race by the 1500m pole between the Hawks and Pitt. In the end Pitt's size was an advantage in the conditions and the Crimson and Gray finished a strong second. The Women's JV8 had a tough race ahead of them in the heat, facing Delaware, Drexel, Fordham, Temple and Bucknell. SJU made it exciting in the morning, sprinting from 5th place to second to qualify for the afternoon final. Between the heat and the final five women from the JV 8 combined to race in a Lightweight 4. The Light 4 lead by open water at the tope of the island against Bryn Mawr, Villanova, Delaware, Bucknell, and Temple. By the bottom of the island Bryn Mawr sprinted up to with in 2 seconds of the Hawks. They never panicked and kept their pace and lead winning the Gold Medal in championship form. The women had about 20 minutes of rest before they had to jump into the JV8 again for the final. In the final Delware jumped to a lead with the field chasing them down. They were in a solid second place just a couple seats ahead of Fordham and Drexel but in the final 15 strokes fatigue set in and Fordham with fresher legs managed to edge past them. The Varsity Women's 8 had an enormous task in the qualifying heat facing Delaware, Lehigh, Drexel, and Villanova with top three advancing to the final. In the heat they rowed long at 33 strokes per minute keeping the field at bay by about 5 seats of open water. A confident row, SJU finished first in the heat ahead of Delaware and Lehigh who also advanced and Villanova who did not. That Hawk crew posted the fastest women's time of the day with a 6:32. The women's varsity 8 final was placed in protest by five of the teams from the final. The officials exercised poor judgement and complete indifference to fairness when they started the race with lanes 5 and 6 not lined up on the starting line giving them a length to a length and a half advantage. Protests were filed. Competing coaches wanted a re-row, but the officials denied the motion. The women next set their sights on the Atlantic 10 Conference Championships on the Cooper River in Camden on April 26.