March 26, 2006

PHILADELPHIA - Facing stiff competition all weekend long, the Saint Joseph's women's rowing team displayed grit and poise at the Murphy Cup on the Schuylkill on Saturday and then returned to duel Connecticut on Sunday.

The list of entries at the Murphy Cup read like the Dad Vail program with a huge contingent of Vails schools, as well as A-10 rivals and Navy. The Hawks faired well in the Freshman 8, Varsity 4, and Second Varsity 8. The Lightweight 8 won their 2nd race of the season, by a one minute margin. Overall the Hawk women combined with eh men to claim teh Murphy Cup.

The Hawks Varsity 8, composed of coxswain Kate Parry, Brianna Kearns, Amanda Holland, Jenn Linck, Meg Henry, Liz Sauter, Lauren Sysol, Kaitie Reehill, Debbie Bateman, rowed a fantastic pair of races, finishing the morning with the fastest time of all three qualifying heats. The final quickly turned into a three boat race between the Hawks, Navy and Bucknell - leaving Villanova, Temple and Fordham with open water behind. The Middies made a hard move at about the 1000m mark, but the Hawks responded at the island to make up 6 seats. Still, it was not enough to win the tight race, finishing second to Navy by less than one second.

"It was a great learning experience for our crew and an exciting race to watch," related Hawk head coach Gerry Quinlan. "We need to dedicate some time to tactics and going out hard early in the race, but we showed that we have the will to do what it takes to compete."

On Sunday the Hawks awoke early to race defending Dad Vail Champion, UConn on the Schuylkill. The team made some lineup changes from Saturday to provide some of the women a chance to step up. The Freshman 8 and Freshman 4 won their races with very strong and aggressive rows. The Varsity 4 and 2nd and 3rd Varsity 8s rowed strong first 1500s but UConns fresh legs were too much, as the Hawks proved. They were gutsy rows but the Murphy Cup heats and finals sapped the Hawks of their leg drive. The Varsity 8 again had a tremendous race coming back on the Huskies from four seats back to finish another nail-biter just 0.8 seconds behind.

"The weekend was a great success in that we identified a lot of areas where we need to spend some effort," assessed Quinlan. "But we also showed poise and character in finishing strong and being very much within striking distance of the top crews. We are very optimistic about April and May"

SJU next takes to teh water at the San Diego Crew Classic.