April 13, 2006

CAMDEN, NJ - It was a shock to the system returning from sunny San Diego on Monday to race in soggy Camden, N.J. at the Knecht Cup. Conditions were miserable on Saturday but very nice for the finals on Sunday, as SJU advanced four crews.

The Varsity 8 of c-Kate Parry, 8-Brianna Kearns, 7-Amanda Holland, 6-Jenn Linck, 5-Meg Henry, 4-Liz Sauter, 3-Kaitie Reehill, 2-Lauren Sysol, and 1-Debbie Bateman struggled in the cold, wind and rain on Saturday but made a statement on Sunday in the 2nd Final winning by open water over Rhode Island, Boston College, Colgate, Dayton and Delaware.

"We were very pleased with our race on Sunday, not so much with Saturday" stated head coach Gerry Quinlan. "We know that we will have good and bad days, and considering our competition on the weekend - we were glad that our 'bad' row was able to qualify us for the petite final."

The 2nd Varsity and Freshman 8 both had great heats and semifinals, qualifying for the grand final on Sunday. The 2V8 of c-Jamie Speranzo, 8-Maureen Owston, 7-Caitlin Twaddell, 6-Jess Barsky, 5-Kelly McKinley, 4-Lindsay Thompson, 3-Alicia Easby-Smith, 2-Meg Stanton and 1-Kaitlin Weston had a strong row finishing right in the mix and within striking distance of the winner.

"We need to work on tactics finishing with a little more speed," said QUnilan, "but overall we are right in track."

The Freshman 8 of cox Ashley Morrison 8-Allison Toner, 7-Kate MacTurk, 6-Liz Golden, 5-Alison Gallagher, 4-Mary Seery, 3-Hilary Armstrong, 2-Stacy Leung and 1-Gina Barbone, also advanced through the heats to row in the Grand Final. After leading at the 1000m, the freshman had a couple misstrokes that allowed the competition to capitalize.

"Overal we had another strong row and get better every week. Our focus through the end of the season will mainly be boosting our aerobic base to help us hold the lead longer-hopefully through the finish."

The Women's Lightweight 4 of cox Kate Tarpey, 4-Liz Daly, 3-Kathleen Radebaugh, 2-Kaitlin Bonaskiewich and 1-Tina Sadowski rowed a solid race in the petit final and finished within striking distance of the winner.

The Women's Varsity 4 of c- Kristin Bonici, 4-Catherine Best, 3-Jeanne Wells, 2-Christiana Scollin and 1-Marissa Mazza did not make it out of the heats but have shown inporvement.

The Freshman 4 and Quad were cancelled.

"We showed some great strength this weekend. We now get a much needed break before we start our Championship run. Sunday marked our 8th race day since March 11. This week we will work to turn weaknesses into strengths and continue to develop race strategy and tactics in preparation for the Atlantic 10 Championships on April 22 on the Cooper River."