SAINTS OPEN 2008 SEASON STRONG AGAINST RIT

Mar. 31: The St. Lawrence University men’s crew team had a great showing in their first race of the spring season on Saturday, as the Saints took on the Tigers from the Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, NY.

 

"With just a week on the water, I'm very pleased with how things went,” said Saints’ men’s head coach George Repicky.  “It's hard to open your season against such a strong team when you come back from Florida, hit the ergs for the week and then hop in a boat to race.  The guys handled the situation very well.  I think all of the work we did this fall and winter in terms of technical aspects has left us in a much better place heading into the spring season."

 

St. Lawrence’s men’s varsity eight crew finished just six seconds behind RIT’s first varsity eight in the 2,000-meter piece, clocking in at 6:38, in comparison to the Tigers’ time of 6:32.

 

"The race was a very strong opening performance for our varsity men,” Repicky said.  “RIT is always a very well coached crew and has been particularly fast the last few years.  They have been on the water for four weeks, while we have not had that luxury, and the difference showed.  I think with some more water time we'll find those six seconds just by improving our catches and cleanliness with the blades.”

 

Competing in the men’s varsity eight boat for St. Lawrence was junior Liam Delahanty (Francestown, NY/Conval Regional), senior Evan Smith (Lancaster, PA/Manheim Township), junior Seth Corliss (Castleton, VT/Fair Haven Union), junior Jullian Holland (Falls Village, CT/Housatonic Valley), senior Seth Hussey (Biddeford, ME/Biddeford), senior Kit Wright (Johnson, VT/Lamoille Union), senior Tedd Rama (Cottekill, NY/Rondout Valley), junior Mike Syslo (Shrewsbury, MA/St. John’s) and coxswain Allison Webster (Weston, MA/Weston).

 

The Scarlet and Brown’s second varsity eight boat clocked in at 6:57 behind RIT’s second varsity crew. The crew included first-year Greg Gotta ( Northbridge, MA/St. John’s), senior Andrew Lagos (Bow, NH/Bow), first-years Joey Colagrossi (Greenwich, CT/Grennwich) and Nick Blum (Buffalo, NY/Williamsville East), sophomore Oke McAndrews (Dover, MA/Loomis Chaffee), senior Brent Davis (Ithaca, NY/Ithaca), senior Lawson Condrey (Holland Patent, NY/Holland Patent), junior Matt Sonagere (Auburn, ME/Edward Little High), and first-year coxswain Alyssa Halton (Ithaca, NY/Lansing).

 

"We had to make some last minute changes to that boat on race day due to injury, so it was the first time we rowed that lineup,” said Repicky.  “I think RIT has a very strong JV boat. We were sloppy with our start and blade work until the middle 20.  Our JV has always come on strong in the second half of the spring and I think with some water time this group will put together some great races later on in the season."

The Saints’ novice boat was the only race St. Lawrence won on Saturday, defeating RIT by nine seconds. "Our assistant coach, Lauren Schulz, has done a great job working with those guys.  It was a very tight race, but our fitness and the great work we did in Florida really carried those guys.  For most of them, it was their first 2k race and they handled it very well."

 

First-years Ben Burds ( Williston, VT/Champlain Valley Union), Cam West ( New Britain, CT/ Avon Old Farms), Brendan McGrath ( Hingham, MA/ Hingham), Blum and coxswain Halton earned the victory for St. Lawrence.