May 1, 2006

PHILADELPHIA - On a sunny Saturday afternoon the Saint Joseph's Men took to the water for their final regular season race against the University of Delaware. The Hawks were victorious in the Varsity Lightweight 8, 2nd Varsity 8 and Freshmen 8 events. However, Delaware got the best of SJU in the Varsity 8 and 3V4 events.

The Varsity Lightweight 8 had a solid week of practice following their open water victory last weekend in Indianapolis. Assistant Coach Victor Marwin assembled a new line-up this week adding senior Michael Santoro to the shell and moving senior co-captain Devlin Murdock to the stroke seat. The boat was rounded out with seniors John Hayes and Joe D'Amato, juniors William West and Steve Ramsey, and sophomores Adam Stoll, Kevin Jacobs and Mark Malott.

In the tightest race of the day the SJU Lightweights (5:49.5) led from wire to wire but just couldn't shake loose of Delaware, who rowed both their Varsity Lightweights (5:51.6) and 2nd Varsity Lightweights (5:51.2) in the race. SJU held a three seat lead until the 1000 meter mark when they pushed out to eight seats over the Delaware 1st boat. In the 3rd 500 Delaware pushed back but the Hawks responded and held a seven seat advantage with 400 meters to go. In the final 200 meters the Delaware 2nd Varsity Lightweights made an impressive push to edge out their first boat and finish six seats behind the Hawks.

In the Freshmen event, the SJU Heavys (5:55.3) continued to gain speed and put on a strong performance to beat the Delaware Frosh Lights by 12.2 seconds (6:07.5) and the Delaware Heavys by 35.7 seconds (6:31.0). The newly formed SJU Frosh Lightweight 8 (6:16.5) put together a solid first 1500 meters but was unable to hang with the Delaware Lights in the final 500 meters and lost to Delaware by nine seconds on their way to defeating the Delaware Heavys by 14.5 seconds.

In the 2nd Varsity event SJU also led from wire to wire and continued to build on its early lead all the way down the course. SJU crossed the finish line in a comfortable 6:00.6, 12.1 seconds ahead of Delaware. Members of the 2V included coxswain Stephanie Gehringer, Jeff Schaetzle, Dave Naab, Mike Jacob, Mike Aurilio, Justin Jones, Gavin Adams, John Romvary, and Bill Fox.

Due to shifting line-ups the Hawks had to hastely assemble a 3V4 the day before the race. The boat's inexperience showed in the early going as set difficulties virtually stopped the shell dead in the water and gave Delaware a commanding lead.

In the Varsity 8 event Delaware (5:44.0) rowed an inspired race to take the victory away from a much-improved Hawk shell (5:48.4). Head Coach Drew Hill was impressed by the Blue Hens.

"We had our best week of practice all year going into this race. A line-up switch and shell switch on Tuesday really helped bring a good rhythm and better spacing to the V8. Delaware pushed hard in the early going and did great job getting out in front by the bridge. I was impressed by their early speed and I think our guys were a bit surprised to be trailing them. At the 1000 meter mark we tried to push it up a notch to get back in front but we lost our ratio in the process. From the bridge to the finish (approximately 1300 meters) Delaware just slowly walked away"

The Hawk V8 will look to avenge their loss to the Blue Hens at the 68th Dad Vail Regatta on May 12 and 13. SJU will boat five 8's and a pair in their defense of the Thomas Kerr Trophy (Men's Point Championship) and Jack Bratten Trophy (overall Men's and Women's Point Championship). Look for strong performances from the Hawks 2nd Varsity 8 (2005 winners of the Ernie Bayer Trophy) and Freshmen Lightweight 8 (2003, 2004, 2005 Winners of the Brendan Lynch Trophy), as well as the highly regarded Varsity Lightweight 8 (2004 & 2005 Bronze Medalists) and Freshmen Heavyweight 8.

Assistant Coach Paul Mullin would also advise the Hawk Hill faithful to not discount the V8 even though the boat has struggled this season to find speed. "This is probably the most talented V8 SJU has had in the last 6 years. At times they have shown us a lot of speed but they just haven't been able to put it together for 2000 meters on race day. As they get more comfortable in the new line-up these next two weeks, I expect to see them become more consistent performers. Results of the regular season sometimes mean very little when championship season rolls around."