April 11, 2009

PENNSAUKEN, N.J. - The Saint Joseph's men's rowing team had a strong performance at the Knecht Cup Regatta on the Cooper River. The Hawks battled a deep field and difficult conditions on Saturday to finish with the best team performances of the season.

The Varsity Eight of Ryan Huck, Glenn Griffin, Tom Kresz, Dan Gallagher, Sean King, Jack Drewniak, Tyler Huck, Max Schipper and Ryan Pawling (cox) had their strongest performance of the season with a second-place finish among 17 crews. With a heat, semi-final and grand final race the Hawks had to show both patience and superior conditioning to earn the victory over so many Dad Vail foes.

In their heat race, SJU qualified third behind Temple and Drexel to earn a spot in the Semifinal B with Rutgers, Bucknell, Drexel, Loyola and Lehigh. The semifinal was a thrilling race that saw all six crews virtually even with just 500 meters to go. The Hawks stepped up in the last 300 meters to pull away from Rutgers and Bucknell and qualify for the final with a first-place finish.

The Grand Final was another tight race that really tested the character and physical conditioning of the Hawks. After a quick start by Temple, SJU found itself in a five-way tie for second place with Bucknell, Hobart, Virginia and Rutgers. At the 1000m mark, Bucknell dropped back and Temple moved ahead for a length lead on the field. All of the crews managed to close on Temple in the third 500 meters with Hobart, Virginia, Rutgers and SJU all trading second place. In the final sprint, Saint Joseph's dug deep and found another gear to edge third-place Hobart and finish second to Temple.

"It was an exciting Grand Final for the Varsity Eight," commented head coach Drew Hill ('74). "Our guys showed a lot of character today and demonstrated that they are in the running for the Varsity Eight title at the Dad Vails in May."

Earlier on Saturday, the Hawks started off the finals with a solid fourth-place finish by the Varsity Lightweight Four. The crew of Dave Lemon, Luke Dentino, Josh Lichman, Tom McElwee and Billy Huzar (cox) qualified for the final by finishing second in their heat on Friday morning. Early Saturday morning the Hawks were greeted by rain, cold temperatures and a 20 mph cross-headwind for their 7:30 a.m. final.

Under three hours later, Lemon, Dentino, Lichman, and McElwee raced again in the Varsity Lightweight Eight joined by Chase Powell, Michael Gibel, Steve Dutcher, Rick DeFino and coxswain Sarah Jost. The Hawks demonstrated their conditioning and managed to earn the victory over their only competitor, Penn State.

The Hawks' Second Varsity Four of Craig Finnerty, Mike Lavin, Steve Olenik, Rich Appell and coxswain Stacey Gorin demonstrated their power with a strong performance for another SJU victory. The Hawks bested the field that included Marietta, Washington College, George Mason and Penn St. by 20-plus seconds.

The Second Varsity Eight also had solid performance at Knecht Cup, winning its heat and placing second to Temple, but ahead of Hobart, Rutgers, Bucknell, Marietta, Lehigh, Drexel, Boston College and Rochester. The Hawks gave up a good deal of size and power in this race as they chose to race the Lightweight Eight of Matt Benedetto, Justin Gentile, Jordan Marwin, Kevin Burrows, Brandon Hanna, Conor Malone, Chuck Hummel, Sean Stewart and Paul Leggieri (cox) against the second varsity heavyweights of the other schools.

All told, Coach Hill was happy with the team's performance at Knecht Cup. "I really think our guys did a great job today and showed the depth of the program with two victories and three solid Grand Final performances.This was a big test for our guys and they responded. I look forward to going even faster this week when we face more good Dad Vail competition at SIRAs."

The Hawks travel to Tennessee next weekend to race in the SIRA Regatta against another strong field, including Dad Vail foes Purdue, Jacksonville, FIT, Grand Valley and other southern schools.