Murphy Cup Recap

First off, a HUGE thanks to the Barker family for hosting the men's team for dinner on Friday night before the regatta (see above photo).  Dinner was excellent and it was nice to have a home cooked meal the night before a race.  Also a big thanks to all the parents who supported and helped out with the food tent, and for those who came to cheer us on!

The team had its first regatta in Philly on 3/26 @ the Murphy Cup.  This is an annual event hosted by Temple University, and brings together some fast school that we don't often race.  All the boats, 1V through 1F were excited to see what we could do in our first real test.

The 1V had a solid heat, winning with a time of 5:59.04, defeating Delaware and Fordham among others.  Going into the afternoon final, the 1V had a bit of trouble handling the tough winds and chop of the Schuylkill and finished in 5th place with a time of 6:07.39.  The finishing order was UVA, Temple, Jacksonville U, Delaware, Marist and LaSalle.  We finished 15 seconds off of UVA.  We were disappointed by this result, as we had beaten Delaware earlier in the afternoon without too much trouble.  The good news is that had we executed well, previous racing indicates we would have been right up there with Temple and Jacksonville.  Both of these teams have solid speed, especially early in the season.  Looking at the big picture, all of these final teams have been on the water for weeks or months more than we have, so the season outlook is definitely positive after this race.

1V Lineup:
Cox- Chris Leonard  (Fr.)
Stroke- Bill Lyons (Sr.)
7- Andy Sayles (Jr.)
6- Eric Mathes (Sr.)
5- Ryan Wojcik (Sr.)
4- Seaton Debritko (So.)
3- Max Kenney (So.)
2- James Barker (Sr.)
Bow- Sam Garrison (So.)

The JV 8 also performed well at the Murphy Cup, finishing 5th in the grand final.  They were 3rd in their heat, finishing with a 6:18.36, and rowed to 5th in the final in a time of 6:27.41.  The JV was 21s off the winner, UVA.  Considering how early we are in the season, the age of the boat, and the fact that our JV 8 is literally the rest of team, with the exception of one sub, this performance was strong.  All of the boats they face in the final have much deeper rosters than we do.  This is a boat that will do very well in a lot of races this season, as their outlook in the boat is one of drive and incredible positivity day to day.

JV Lineup:
Cox- Kyle Ward (Jr.)
Stroke- Billy Hawxhurst (So.)
7- Brendan O'Bryan (Sr.)
6- James Wojcik (So.)
5- Ben Clark (So.)
4- Pete Vinnecombe (So.)
3- John Boss (So.)
2- Paul Tracey (Jr.)
Bow- Ben Smith (So.)

The Freshman 8 showed good early form with their 5th place finish.  Given the fact that they had a injury remove one of their stronger rowers from traveling this weekend, and they had many true novices in the boat, racing for their first time ever, they should be proud of 5th.  Their time of 7:14.93 was 24s off of the winner, UVA, whose 2nd frosh boat placed 4th in this same event.  The freshman have a lot of desire and some talented young oarsmen, which will translate to wins later in the season as they figure out set lineups and collegiate racing.

We have hit practice hard this week, as we prepare for two races this weekend.  On Saturday, all boats will be taking on Trinity, UConn and USCGA (Coast Guard) in Coventry, CT.  On Sunday, we will faceoff against UConn and LaSalle, again in Coventry.  We believe that all boats will have strong performances in CT, and are hoping to leave with some new clothing (SHIRT BETTING SEASON IS HERE)