Full Results

CHERRY HILL, N.J. --  On the final day of competition at the Knecht Cup, hosted by Villanova University, the Mercyhurst College men's and women's rowing squads turned in an impressive performance as three of the four Laker boats entered in today's finals captured gold.

In wet and windy condititions, the lightweight men's four got the racing started with a strong victory as Kurtis Boyd, Jovan Jovanovic, Ryan Browning and Michael Baggaley took control to cruise to an easy win, outdistancing second-place George Mason by nearly 26 seconds with a time of 1:00.0.  A primarily Division I field, the Lakers also took first over Pitt and St. Joseph's.

Two hours later the same crew rowed in the heavyweight category and struck gold again thanks to an explosive start while using great composure to hold off a Loyola to cross the line first in 6:59.8, more than 18 seconds better than third-place Penn State.

"For a 155 lb.-crew to beat guys weighing more than 200 lbs. is a testament to the caliber of our athletes" said Lakers assistant Coach Ted Nagorsen.

In the men's freshman four, Thomas Hall, Scot Bly, James Gallagher, Michael Gallagher and coxie Lindsey Crosby won the petite final by 9.3 seconds over Carnegie Mellon, finishing in 8:17.8.

"The guys were disappointed not to make the finals yesterday,despite being fast enough," said freshman coach Chris Niebauer.  " But after drawing the harder of the two semifinals, they put it behind them today and rowed with a lot of determination.  I am very proud of them". 

On the women's side, the fifth ranked Lakers had two boats in the finals, with the women's varsity eight winning gold in its first race of the season while the women's four took third-place.

In the varsity eigt final was the second- and third-ranked teams in Dowling College and Philadelphia University. The Lakers had a solid start, but Dowling took the early lead at 500 meters by a 1/3 of a boat length. The distance remained the same through the 1000 meter mark, but it was in the third 500 meters that the Lakers began to close the gap underrating Dowling by six strokes a minute. The Lakers closed the gap and drew level with 700 meters to go. In the last 500 meters the Lakers started to pull away to a comfortable and impressive victory, beating Dowling by 6 seconds and Philadelphia by 12 seconds. 

"Dowling has been the regional team to beat the last three years, so to beat them today was definitely a positive for us" said Mercyhurst head coach Adrian Spracklen.  "The results today by all our boats shows the potential there is for continued success if we continue to work hard at practice." 

The women's four had a strong start to the race but were unable to sustain the lead, as Barry University and Lafayette pushed through the Lakers by the 1000 meter mark. The Lakers started to get back on track in the last 500 meters but were unable to move up on the two boats and had to settle on the bronze metal. 

"The final today was a little disappointing after yesterday's great race, but we are pleased we beat regional foes Philadelphia University and Dowling College," said senior Michelle Olivares". 

Mercyhurst will be racing next weekend when the women's squad competes at the Southern Intercollegiate Rowing Association in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.