March 15, 2007

PHILADELPHIA - (By Paul Mullin)- Despite having a smaller varsity squad in 2007, the Saint Joseph's Men's Rowing team returns 11 dedicated seniors who will be key factors in the program's success. Head Coach Drew Hill, entering his fifth season on Hawk Hill, believes that this year's squad has "great leadership coming from every senior on the team."

Those senior oarsmen are captain Alex DiBiasi, Sean Flynn, Andrew Friedlander, Bill Fox, Dan Lachant, Steve Ramsey, Jeff Schaetzle, William West, Wayne Zimmer and coxswains Stephanie Gehringer, and Lauren Moran.

This season the senior class has sharpened their focus and look to translate their full commitment into strong performances in spring racing. With a tougher spring racing schedule that includes races against Georgetown, Michigan, UVA, Holy Cross, George Washington, Temple, Navy, Marietta, FIT, Delaware, and Purdue, the Hawks are eager to raise their speed to the next level.

Captain Alex DiBiasi explained things this way, "Three years ago in the freshmen 8, seven of us seniors went undefeated in the regular season with victories over all of those crews. This year we are working harder than ever to repeat that feat."

This singular focus of doing what it takes to win is shared with the varsity lightweight oarsmen who last year saw their Dad Vail Championship awarded to a gutsy Georgia Tech crew that upset the Hawks in the final. "Last year's Dad Vail silver medal still hurts," said Ramsey, who now has a gold (2004), silver (2006), and bronze (2005) medal in lightweight events at Vails.

Despite having only ten varsity lightweight oarsmen on the team, fifth-year Assistant Coach Paul Mullin is optimistic about reclaiming the Thomas Loschiavo Trophy, last won by the Hawks in 1999. "Our lightweights are real athletes who are dedicated to developing their rowing skills on and off the water," Mullin says. "When we reach our potential in late spring, we should be very fast."

On the freshmen side of the team the Hawk first year rowers have been very impressive thus far. At the Navy Day Regatta and the Frostbite Regatta, the Hawks came away with victories, demonstrating that they will be the crew to beat on the Schuylkill River come May 12th.

"This year's freshmen class has a good combination of size and toughness that should produce some exciting races and strong performances this spring," said third-year Freshmen Coach Dan Goettner. "The last time SJU won the Freshmen 8 event at the Navy Day Regatta (in 2002), we won the Freshmen 8 at Dad Vails by open water the following spring. That's a good sign."

The Hawks begin their 2007 season on March 17th hosting the Jesuit Invitational Regatta on the Cooper River in Camden, NJ. The Dad Vail Regatta, the league championship, will be held on the Hawks' home course, the Schuylkill River, on May 11th and 12th. The SJU Men end their season back on the Cooper River for the national championship IRA Regatta from May 31st - June 2nd.