OAK RIDGE, TN- The SJU Men's Rowing Team took four eights to Tennessee to participate in the Southern Intercollegiate Rowing Championships as a guest participanton April 21-22. The weather in Oak Ridge was beautiful as the Hawks battled in what appeared to be a Dad Vail preview on Melton Lake.
The Freshman 8 (16-3 on the season) took home the lone victory for the Hawks, posting a time of 6:15.1 to best Grand Valley (6:18.5), Purdue (6:20.7), UNC (6:22.9), Texas (6:25.1) and Georgia Tech (6:30.3). The boat consisted of coxswain Trevor Curran, stroke seat Ryan Huck, 7-seat Adam Iaccio, 6-seat Sean Blow, 5-seat Hunter Freeman, 4-seat Tim Strybuck, 3-seat Max Schipper, 2-seat Mike O,Rouke, and bow seat Conor Malone.
The Varsity Lightweight 8 (9-5 on the season) failed to make it two in a row for the Hawks when they took silver by the smallest of margins to Mercyhurst College in the closest race of the regatta. After being down by as much a seat open water (about 4 seconds) the Hawks battled back in the last 1,000 meters to overtake front-runner Jacksonville and pull even with Mercyhurst. The officials had to review the film and announced minutes later that Mercyhurst had won by less than 6 inches.
Lightweight Coach Paul Mullin was both disappointed and upbeat about the result. "Despite the loss we made progress this week and that is the important take away from this race," said Mullin. "The five other finalists from this race will be on our home course in three weeks for Dad Vails. We are looking forward to it."
Progress was also the take away for the 2nd Varsity 8 and Varsity 8 which finished 4th and 10th, respectively. against the field of traditional Dad Vail foes, including Grand Valley, Georgia Tech, FIT, Jacksonville, Marietta, Purdue, and Temple.
The Hawks will have a few more weeks of training to improve their speed before Dad Vails (May 11-12). Head Coach Drew Hill summed it up saying, "SIRA's were an excellent measuring stick for the team. We now have a feel for the high level of competition we'll face at our conference championship. We need one more push of very hard work to ensure that we have another successful Dad Vail Regatta."
