PHILADELPHIA, Pa. – The Mercyhurst College women's varsity eight and the men's varsity lightweight eight each earned gold medals at the 72nd Annual Aberdeen Dad Vail Regatta. 

On the Schuylkill River, the nationally-ranked No. 2 women's varsity eight displayed its power with a convincing win over rivals Barry, Seattle Pacific, Philadelphia and Florida Tech. The Lakers crossed the line in 7:07.18 to capture their second consecutive Dad Vail medal. In the boat was Lindsey Cosby at coxen, Amanda Carlyon as the stroke, Leah Niecgorski at the No. 7 seat, followed by Bethany Brun, Rachel Beste, Sally O'Brien, Alicia Peterson, Alexandra Salen and Annie Schiller at the bow. 

For the men's varsity lightweight eight, the Lakers downed a field that included Delaware, St. Joseph's, Michigan State, Marietta and Michigan. The crew led by coxen Ryan Browning and featuring Ivan Palikuca at stroke, followed by Jovan Jovonivic, #R.J. Rubino#, Michael Orzolek, Jake Schuppe, David Cullmer, Chris Register and Michael Baggaley at bow, finished in a time of 6:19.61. 

The men's freshman/novice four (Chris Branchick, Adam King, Dan Baggaley, Jeff Murt and coxen Jeffrey Thiede) also reached the finals but were just narrowly edged for the gold medal by Temple. The Lakers finished second in 6:58.192 after reaching the finals with a first-place time of 6:45.407 in the semifinals. 

The men's pair (Ben Caplinger, Tom Hall) finished third in the semifinals in 7:13.706 and just missed the cut for the finals. 

For complete results of all races, please visit dadvail.org.