April 2, 2007

SAN DIEGO, CA - The Saint Joseph's women's rowing team again made the cross country trip to the San Diego Crew Classic and fared well.

Known as a team that comes on very strong at the end of the season, the Hawks seeme to be ahead of scheduled as they showed a tremendous amount of speed and character in San Diego.

The Freshman 8 advanced to the 3rd final by making huge adjustments (and realizations) to win their final by open water after lining up in the heats with some of the best crews in the U.S. It became a valuable learning experience for the freshmen, who earned a glimpse of who the Hawks are, and who they will become.

The V8 qualified for the grand final of the Cal Cup for the second straight year. In last place off the start in lane four, the Hawks turned in a gutsy last 1,000 meters to go through the field to finish a strong second place passing Kansas State, Buffalo, St. Mary's and Temple.

"We have a very young boat, so our learning curve is enormous. We won Dad Vail in 2006 and many see that as the culmination of something - but we know it is the beginning of something very special. We are on the cusp of something really great," said SJU head coach Gerry Quinlan. "Our team has an incredible will to win. It is very exciting to be a part of this."

VARSITY 8: c- Kristen Bonnici, 8-Liz Sauter, 7-Debbie Bateman, 6-Kaitie Reehill, 5-Kelly McKinley, 4-Meg Stanton, 3-Alicia Easby-Smith, 2-Emma Harmon, 1-Colleen Greway

FRESHMAN 8: c-Andi Hartfield, 8-Tina Regan, 7-Christina DiSanto, 6-Stephane D'Angelo, 5-Lauren Rozsits, 4-Laura Thornton, 3-Tai Haluszka, 2-Corey Cella, 1-Gabby Hazzouri

Next up for the Hawks is the George Washington Invitational on April 6-7 on the Potomac River.