April 25, 2009

PHILADELPHIA - The Saint Joseph's men's rowing team picked up victories in two events at the annual Bergen Cup on the Schuylkill River.

The Hawks' Second Varsity 8 took first place by a large margin over Temple, with a crew that was comprised of the usual Varsity Lightweight lineup. Saint Joseph's also had a second boat in the race that was made up of the Second Varsity 8 lineup, and earned a third-place finish. The first-place boat consisted of: cox- Paul Leggieri, stroke- Brandon Hanna, 7- Justin Gentile, 6- Chase Powell, 5- Conor Malone, 4- Matt Benedetto, 3- Kevin Burrows, 2- Jordan Marwin, bow- Sean Stewart. The Hawks' lineup for the third-place boat was: cox- Bill Huzar, stroke- Craig Finnerty, 7- Rich Appell, 6- Steve Olenik, 5- Rick DeFino, 4- Chuck Hummel, 3- Mike Lavin, 2- Luke Dentino, bow- Josh Lichman.

The Varsity 4 had a successful day with the two Hawks' boats posting a one-two finish. The first-place boat was comprised of: cox- Stacey Gorin, stroke- Craig Finnerty, 3- Rich Appell, 2- Rick DeFino, bow- Chuck Hummel. The following group of Hawks finished in second place: cox- Sarah Jost, stroke- Michael Gibel, 3- Dave Lemon, 2- Tom McElwee, bow- Steve Dutcher (2nd in V4 race)

The defending Bergen Cup champions in the Varsity 8, Saint Joseph's took the early lead, but fell behind at the end to finish fourth. SJU's lineup was: cox- Ryan Pawling, stroke- Ryan Huck, 7- Glenn Griffin, 6- Thomas Kresz, 5- Max Schipper, 4- Sean King, 3- Dan Gallagher, 2- Tyler Huck, bow- Jack Drewniak.