April 8, 2013

SAN DIEGO - The Saint Joseph's women's rowing team competed at the San Diego Crew Classic this past weekend as the Hawks Varsity 8 finished third in the Petit Final, while the Varsity 4 placed fifth in the Petit Final.

The Varsity 8 rebounded from a bad start in the heat to finish third in the Petit Final. The Hawks battled through the middle 1,000 to pull by SMU and Kansas State, and maintain connection on Old Dominion and Sacramento State. But in the end, the Hawks were unable to overtake the leaders, finishing a strong third.

The lineup for the Varsity 8 was: c- Katie Messina; 8- Amanda McEvoy; 7- Felicia Gojmerac; 6- Taylor Biesiada; 5- Bridget Dempsey; 4- Brittany Roth; 3- Ariana McDevitt; 2- Rachel Shustack; 1- Gabriella Parker.

"We were disappointed in our heat for sure. We practice to be very aggressive in the first 750 and when we misfired on the first couple of strokes, we found ourselves in a place we didn't want to be and we panicked," said head coach Gerry Quinlan. "We came back strong on Sunday. I think we learned a lot this weekend."

The Varsity 4 advanced to the Petit Final and battled well, leading the race through the 500m mark. Despite the strong start, the Hawks were overpowered in the final 500 meters by Texas and Iowa, but put on a great sprint to hold off Old Dominion to place fifth.