March 16, 2006

PHILADELPHIA - The Saint Joseph's men's rowing team will open its spring season this Saturday at the Jesuit Invitational Regatta on the Cooper River in Pennsauken, N.J.

The Hawks will face solid competition from last year's Varsity 8 winner Georgetown and last year's Varsity Lightweight 8 winner Boston College, as well as Holy Cross and Loyola.

Fourth-year Head Coach Drew Hill said that his crews are looking forward to their first race. "We trained very hard this winter to work on our fitness and as a team we are in the best shape of the four years I have coached at SJU. We had a great spring break trip and got in a lot of miles on the water to set us up for a productive spring season. We are ready and anxious to race."

Despite several injuries on the team the Hawks will boat five eights for this weekend's competition (Varsity 8, Varsity Lightweight 8, 2nd Varsity 8, Freshmen 8, and 2nd Freshmen 8). Racing begins at 10:00 AM on the Cooper and runs through 12:30 PM.