May 11, 2008

PHILADELPHIA - For the second straight year the Saint Joseph's women's rowing team advanced all three eights to the Grand Finals at the Dad Vail Regatta, with the Freshman 8 finishing in second place.

On Friday, in terrible weather conditions, the Hawks had a tough draw in the heats but were able to prevail and advance the eights to Saturday. The Varsity 4 had a jumped seat at the start of the heat putting SJU in last off the start, but still came through the field to finish a close third. In fast conditions the Hawks just ran out of space to make the final.

"Advancing through the heats and semis into the grand is not an easy task when you look at the depth of the field on the women's side," said SJU coach Gerry Quinlan.

In the finals the Freshman 8 led off for the Hawks, finishing a strong second to Grand Valley. The Hawks traded leads with Grand Valley throughout the 2000m race but came up a little short in the end. "It was a great race to watch and we are proud of our silver medal," said Quinlan.

The 2nd Varsity 8 and Varsity 8 also had strong rows in the grand final, with finishes that were the best SJU has rowed all year.

"This is our speed. We got everything out of everyone. There were just a couple of teams faster. We did all we could do. We capped off another great season at the Dad Vail," said Quinlan.

The Hawks finished fourth in the women's points standings with 15.

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

2ND VARSITY 8: c-Kristen Bonnici, 8-Tina Regan, 7-Kate MacTurk, 6-Lauren Rozsits, 5-Alicia Easby-Smith, 4-Liz Golden, 3-Kelly McKinley, 2-Allison Morrison, 1-Caitlin Twaddell

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