Oct. 23, 2005

BOSTON - The Saint Joseph's Men's Rowing Team had three solid performances this weekend at the 41st Head of the Charles Regatta against a talented field of US and International crews.

The Hawks faced tough racing conditions in Boston with rain, 45-degree temperatures, a strong head current, and a 10-15 mph headwind on the race course.

Rowing in the Champion 8, the Hawks' first varsity boat of Charlie Koob, Mike Jacob, Alex DiBiasi, Adrian Gherca, Dan Lachant, Sean Flynn, Wayne Zimmer, Mike Leahy, and Dan Fazio finished 26th out of 40 crews, and 16th out of 26 versus US colleges. The field at this year's "Charles" featured elite club teams from the US, UK, Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands as well as college teams from Canada and Denmark.

"Our goal was to finish in the top 12 of US colleges", said Coach Hill. "The 16th place finish against such a strong field means that we are making progress this fall. This weekend we were better prepared to race and had better boat speed through the water. I am really happy with the solid team performance and the way our guys handled themselves at such a large and competitive venue."

SJU raced as Hawk Hill Rowing Club in the Champion Four event and finished 22nd out of 26, or 11th out of 14 versus US colleges. Members of the crew included Mark Del Guercio, Jeff Schaetzle, William West, Andrew Friedlander, and Gavin Adams.

Due to changes in the rules, the SJU Collegiate 8 of Stephanie Gehringer, Devlin Murdock, Dave Naab, Michael Wingrove, Kevin Jacobs, Jordan Marwin, Bill Fox, Mark Mallot, and Sean O'Hara found themselves racing against the top 8 oarsmen from most schools. Despite the disadvantage, the Hawk's managed to finish 22nd out of 41 in the race and 15th out of 31 versus US colleges.

The slow conditions didn't help the undersized Hawks who competed with three members of last year's 2nd Varsity 8, one member of last year's Varsity Lightweight 8, two members of last year's Frosh Lightweight 8, and two first year freshmen lightweights. "Ten seconds quicker and we would have made the top 10 US colleges, not too bad for a group of guys that come from all different shells", commented Coach Mullin.

Next up for the Hawks is the Head of the Schuylkill this weekend on the home course. The SJU Men will boat a Varsity 8, Varsity Lightweight 8, 2nd Varsity 8, 3rd Varsity 8, Freshmen 8, and Freshmen Lightweight 8. Racing starts at 11:00 AM with the Varsity 8's.