Oct. 25, 2006

BOSTON, MA - The Saint Joseph's men's rowing team took 18 athletes to Boston this past weekend to compete in the 42nd Head of the Charles Regatta - the largest two-day sporting event in the world.

Competing alongside nearly 8,000 other athletes from around the world, and in front of an estimated 324,000 spectators, the Hawks posted solid performances in the Championship 8 and Lightweight 8 events.

In the Championship 8, the SJU Varsity Heavyweight boat posted a time of 15:12.9 seconds over the 3-mile Charles River course. That time was good for 30th overall and 23rd among the 33 US college teams that participated. The Hawks managed to finish just ahead of Marietta, Marist, Holy Cross and Columbia, but slightly behind local rival Temple (0.7 seconds).

Head Coach Drew Hill was pleased with the effort and the progress of the heavyweight shell. "This week we had a better race and managed to pick up speed relative to the same competition we raced at the Navy Day Regatta. We caught up to, or extended our lead over, each of the seven crews we raced last weekend (Navy, Georgetown, Penn, Dowling, Temple, Army, and Rutgers). That is progress, and our plan is to continue to pick up speed straight through Dad Vails in May."

In the Lightweight 8 event the Hawk Varsity Lightweights went 15:31.1 on the clock, good for 14th out of 26 entries and 9th out of 18 US collegiate crews. The Hawks placed behind perennial powerhouse Yale and ahead of Delaware, Holy Cross, Boston College, and Georgia Tech.

"We had a solid race today", said Varsity Lightweight Coach Paul Mullin. "We managed to place in the top 10 of US colleges and ahead of nearly all of the crews we race in the Spring. As we continue to get more comfortable with our new stroke and are able to focus more on racing, we should be able to close the gap that currently exists between us and some of the EARC Sprints competition."

Although rowing is the ultimate team sport, the long and bendy Charles River offered two SJU athletes the chance to shine - senior coxswains Stephanie Gehringer and Lauren Moran. "This was a high pressure situation for our coxswains and they really did a fantastic job today", said Coach Hill. "With so many elite teams at this regatta one bad turn can mean the difference in 10 places in finishing order. Steph and Lauren steered aggressive courses and led their boats to strong finishes today."

The SJU Men are in action this Saturday on their home course at the Head of the Schuylkill Regatta. Racing starts at 11:00 AM with the Heavyweight and Lightweight 8's and goes through 3:40 PM with the freshmen race.

Boat Line-ups:

Varsity Heavyweight 8 - Stephanie Gerhringer (cox), Alex DiBiasi (stk.), Glenn Griffin (7), Dan Lachant (6), Sean Flynn (5), Jack Drewniak (4), Andrew Friedlander (3), Sean King (2), and Mike Jacob (bow).

Varsity Lightweight 8 - Lauren Moran (cox), Steve Ramsey (stk.), Kevin Jacobs (7), Jordan Marwin (6), Michael Wingrove (5), Marc Malott (4), Kevin Burrows (3), John Schneckenburger (2), and Adam Stoll (bow).