May 7, 2008

PHILADELPHIA - Saint Joseph's women's rowing team will close out the 2008 season at the 70th Dad Vail Regatta on the Schuylkill River, battling over 120 universities and colleges on the Hawks' home waters this weekend. The regatta runs from Friday, May 9 through Saturday, May 10.

The Hawks are coming off of very solid races in the Atlantic 10 Championships and the Kelly Cup, where they captured the Varsity 8 title for the second year in a row. SJU, which has had two weeks to prepare for the Dad Vail, is looking to build off the momentum from those successes and should be considered one of the teams to beat this weekend.

"We are very excited about the Dad Vail. It is a great event and it is what we train for all season. We talked about the Dad Vail in our first meeting back in August and now we're here," said SJU coach Gerry Quinlan.

The Hawks enter the weekend with good seeds in the Varsity 8, Second Varsity 8, and the Freshman 8. "The seeds are nice," said Quinlan. "But there is so much parity on the women's side - it will be anybody's race once they say 'go'."

Last year, Saint Joseph's tied for the third in the women's standings, while coupled with the Hawks' men's team, placed second in the overall team standings. The women's Varsity 8 finished second to Purdue.

Racing starts with the heats at 8 a.m. on Friday. For more information on the Dad Vail Regatta,

LINEUPS: VARSITY 8: c- Andi Hartfield, 8- Brianne Kammerman, 7- Lauren Sysol, 6- Liz Sauter, 5- Colleen Greway, 4- Samm Wilson, 3- Christina DiSanto, 2-Danielle Brady, 1- Debbie Bateman

FRESHMEN 8: c- Clare Burns, 8- Christine Stopyra, 7- Katie Herdmann, 6- Ashley Wollman, 5-Colleen Smith, 4- Deanna Bigford, 3- Juliet Lee, 2- MaryCate Fox, 1- Angela Acuna

VARSITY 4: c- Gabby Hazzouri, 4- Hilary Armstrong, 3- Alison Gallagher, 2- Kathleen Radebaugh, 1- Tina Sadowski