PHILADELPHIA (5/08/04) - The Saint Joseph's men's and women's rowing teams advanced all eight boats to the finals with with six crews claiming medals to lead the Hawks to second place finishes in both the men's and women's points races and combining to place second in the overall points competition at the prestigious Dad Vail Regatta on the Schuylkill River. Just fractions of a second in several races kept SJU from picking up the overall crown. Click for complete race results.

The lone Hawk boat to seize gold was the Freshman Lightweight 8 that was made up of coxswain Lauren Moran, Steve Ramsey, Pete Coppinger, Heinz Schaldenbrand, William West, Bob Kane, Brendan McMahon, Jason Burrows and Pete Mattison. The Frosh Lightweights covered the course in 6:10.47 to edge Georgia Tech for the Brendan Lynch trophy.

Three other Hawk boats garnered silver medals, including both men's and women's Freshman 8s and the women's JV8.

The women's Frosh 8 of cox Jenn Castillo, Natalie Schuck, Meghan Henry, Susie Beltz, Kristen Greenbaum, Julie Kelenski, Jen Fasy, Meghan McShea and Kate Tarpey, rowed 6:54.45 in the final finishing second to Purdue.

The Frosh men's 8 boat consisting of Stephanie Gehringer (cox), Alex DiBiasi, Blake Schiller, Wayne Zimmer, Mike Jacob, Dan Lachant, Andrew Friedlander, Dave Naab and Jeff Schaetzle placed second to Marietta in a time of 6:08.61.

The women's boat of 2nd Varsity 8 cox Kate Parry, Laura Hill, Jenn Wilson, Amanda Holland, Rebecca Celotto, Bernice Mc Pherson, Meredith Richter, Maureen Owston and Courtney Cronauer crossed the finish line seven seconds behind Connecticut in a time of 7:07.39.

Two other men's boats, the JV8 and the Lightweight 8, picked up the remaining medals, each placing third.

The men's Lightweght 8 of cox Courtney Dombroski, Joe Francks, Russ Lampman, Tom Fitzpatrick, Matt Walsh, Devlin Murdock, Lee Bink, Pat McGettigan and Mike Santoro, finished behind Boston College and Georgia Tech, but ahead of Purdue, Minnesota and Marietta in a time of 6:05.65.

The men's JV boat of cox John Hayes, Justin marconi, Sean O'Hara, Chris Barrett, Evan Pierce, Mike Leahy, Tom Smith, Justin Jones and Bill Fox, placed third in a hottly contested final, just 4.0 seconds behind Temple and 0.7 tenths beind of Purdue with a time of 6:07.26.

The women's V8 of cox Rachel Fonorow, Brianna Kearns, Brigid Morrison, Martha Limbach, Lauren Gallagher, Marci Armetta, Mary Jameson, Jenn Linck, Megan Nechanicky easily reached the Grand Final and then was edged by less than 0.5 tenths of a second at the finish by both Villanova (7:01.94) and Cal-Davis (7:02.20) to place fourth in a time of 7:02.43.

The men's V8 of coxswain Charlie Koob, Adrian Gherca, Dan Fazio, Jon Joyce, Mike Dyczkiewicz, Sean Flynn, Drew Parassio, Matt Mullin and Ray Cawley, which had advanced directly to the semifinals by winning its heat on Friday, missed qualifying for the Grand Final when it was nipped at the finish in the semis by Marietta (5:42.8) and Grand Valley (5:45.03), crossing the finish in 5:45.9. That crew then placed third in the Petite final behind Minnesota and FLorida Tech in a time of 6:18.76