Lehigh Men Upset Delaware, Handle LaSalle in Season Opener

By Rachel Flink

Lehigh’s men’s varsity eight defeated LaSalle University and the University of Delaware’s heavyweight eights and Delaware’s highly ranked lightweight eight in a four boat race this past Saturday. Delaware had six of eight rowers returning from last year’s light weight eight that placed 6 th in the nation. Lehigh’s lineup consisted of Dave Highhill-coxswain, Justin Yurchak-Stroke seat, Erik Wright-7seat,Marcus Bateman-6 seat, Aaron Czysz-5 seat, Jon Winter-4 seat, Matt Galuska-3 seat, Mike Flannagan-2 seat, Mike Villano-bow.(in their new Resolute)

It was a blustery day, with the winds picking up and changing direction every twenty minutes or so, making for tough racing conditions. Lehigh fared well, however, with a strong start to their spring racing season.

The varsity women had a solid race, beating Delaware’s top boat but were surprised by a fast LaSalle crew and had to settle for second by just over a half length to LaSalle.

The Lehigh novice women had a strong showing. The first novice women’s eight beat Delaware’s first boat, with a quick start and a strong sprint to the finish line. Lehigh’s second novice eight also defeated Delaware’s second novice boat by three seats, after dueling back and forth down the course.

Lehigh’s novice men’s four also won their race. After a tight side by side race with Delaware for 1500 meters, Lehigh sprinted away in the last 500

Overall it was a strong start to the season. All Lehigh boats are looking poised to have a great spring, and everyone is excited to race St. Joe’s this Sunday on the Schuylkill.

The Mountain Hawks were outmatched this weekend against a strong St. Joe’s team. The novice women and the varsity women had the two closest races of the day. The novice women had a lead going into the last 500 meters, but St. Joe’s edged them out by less then one second. The varsity women mirrored the novice women’s race and finished 2.3 seconds behind. The varsity men finished with a time of 5:59.1, finishing five and a half seconds back.

The Mountain Hawks are anxious to face St. Joe’s again this weekend at the Murphy Cup Regatta in Philadelphia. The women’s varsity eight are two-time defending champions of this regatta and are prepared to keep the trophy for another year.

The Murphy Cup race schedule and parking passes will be sent out tomorrow.

MARCH 27, 2004—Philadelphia, PA---The Murphy Cup Regatta featured some of the strongest rowing teams in the Northeast, making it a day of intense competition for Lehigh Crew on the Schuylkill River. The morning heats resulted in all of Lehigh’s boats advancing to the grand finals. The novice women’s eight were the performers of the day with a second place finish ahead of St. Joe’s who had beaten them the week before. The varsity women were unable to retain the V8 Murphy Cup for a third year but were able to vindicate losses earlier in the season to St. Joe’s and LaSalle. They finished third behind Villanova and Navy.

On the men’s side the novice eight placed fourth of ten crews while the varsity placed fifth of twelve boats entered. In the grand finals of the varsity eight Lehigh finished just 2.5 seconds behind 20 th ranked Dowling.

This Saturday Lehigh defends the River Cup at home against the Lafayette Leopards. Racing starts at 11:00 AM in Allentown.

Hope to see you there!

The Lehigh Mountain Hawks flew to a decisive victory Saturday, on the Lehigh river.  Facing down Lafayette in the annual River Cup, Lehigh won nine of the ten events.
      The women’s 1^st varsity four (Coxswain seat- Jr.-Megan Vasta, Stroke seat – Sr.-Kristen Acciaioli, 3 seat- Sr.-Brady Garrity, 2 seat-Sr.-Helen Roche, bow seat-Sr.-Colleen Furey) began the day with a hint of things to come.  Making a powerful, unified commitment at the infamous Mountain Hawk Twenty move with 1000m left in the race, the Lehigh’s first varsity women’s four left Lafayette eating their wake.

      Lehigh’s novice team kept the fight coming every stroke.  The novice men’s eights placed first and third.  While the novice women’s eights placed first and second over Lafayette.  The novice men’s four came down to an exciting finish with all three boats crossing the line within 2 second of each other. Lehigh’s novice women’s fours again took first and second .  Freshmen coxswain Heather McFall described it as an absolutely amazing race, in which she could literally “feel this amazing energy course through the boat.” 

     Lehigh was also able to field both lightweight women’s eight and a lightweight men’s eight.  Clearly stealing the limelight today, both lightweight eights won their respective races by huge margins.  As the lightweight men’s eight’s coxswain, Meng Guo, put it, they were solidly “in control” for the entire race.

    Lehigh’s varsity women beat Lafayette in the varsity women’s eight race.  Battling Lafayette for the first half, the Mountain Hawks started their walk at the 1000m mark and found that spark to break Lafayette in the second half of the race.  Winning by several boat lengths of open water, the women enjoyed their first win of the season.

     The most exciting race of the day came, however, in the varsity men’s eight race, the last race to come down the river.  While Lehigh’s top eight walked away early in the race, Lehigh’s second men’s eight sat half a boat length down on Lafayette for most of the race.  Digging deep and fighting through the last stroke, the second men’s eight brought their fury to bear in the final 500m of the race to beat Lafayette by less than a second.

Knecht Cup Recap

The Lehigh Crew team had a strong showing, putting four boats into the Grand Finals and two boats into the Petite Finals at the Knecht Cup in Camden, New Jersey on Saturday and Sunday.

The men’s varsity eight got off to a rough start in their heat finishing fourth; they battled back in the semis to edge out a tough Marist crew (ranked 27 th in the USRowing Collegiate Men's Varsity Eight Poll), taking second place and putting them in the Grand Finals. The men finished fifth out of twelve overall, beating Delaware and finishing less than a second behind a strong St. Joes squad.

For the novices, the men’s first eight made it to the Grand Final and took third of eighteen, to avenge a Delaware boat that beat them earlier in the season and a Marist boat that edged them out in their semifinal.

The men’s novice four took first in their Petite Final, recording the fourth fastest time overall in their event.

The novice women’s eight made it to the Petite Finals, where they came in second place (7 th of 22 overall). The novice women’s four seemed to get faster with each race and made it to the Grand Finals where they took third place (3 rd of 18 overall), beating out Kansas by less than a second.

Lehigh returns to action on Sunday at the Patriot League Championships in Worcester, Massachusetts.