Medals For Men's Pair and Novice Eight Highlight Drexel's Big Weekend at Aberdeen Dad Vail Regatta

Friday, May 13

Schuylkill River

Drexel University

Dad Vail Regatta

Medals For Men's Pair and Novice Eight Highlight Drexel's Big Weekend at Aberdeen Dad Vail Regatta

5/14/2011 4:36:00 PM | Men's Rowing, Women's Rowing

Philadelphia – Drexel sent a record-tying five boats to the grand finals on the final day of Aberdeen Dad Vail Regatta and claimed a gold medal in the men's varsity pair and a silver in the men's novice eight in a successful weekend for Drexel rowing on the Schuylkill River.

Drexel entered day two with eight boats still in the hunt for gold; the men's and women's varsity eights, the men's and women's varsity pair, the men's and women's second varsity eights and the men's and women's freshman/novice eights. After a morning session of semi-final action, the Dragons advanced seven to the afternoon finals races.

The women's pair of stroke Elise Panacek and bow Kathy Cheng crossed the finish line in a time of 8:46.60, just over 17 seconds faster than their qualifying time yesterday. Unfortunately the time was only good enough for a fifth place finish with the top two advancing to the finals.

Starting the day off for Drexel was the women's freshman/novice eight rowing the Anna Marie finishes second in their heat with a time of 7:15.32 sending them to the finals against Villanova, Purdue, UMass, Western Ontario and Dayton where the Dragons raced out of lane five. Coxswain Dana Piccoli, stroke Amanda O'Malley, Colleen Delaney, Sarah Mackenzie, Alyssa Leahy, Shannon O'Donnell, Elizabeth Daugherty, Caitlin Buser and bow Jack Bender rowed for the Sara Vaughan Trophy finishing in a time of 7:35.04, sixth place.

The men's freshman/novice eight launched the Peggy Greenawalt in their semi-final, pulling a time of 6:09.09, good enough for a first place finish by more than three seconds and advancement to the finals. Coxswain Marc Smith, stroke John Pieper, Vanja Busic, Sebastian Ryan, Marcus DeMarici, Ryan McSpedon, Steven Miner, Matthew Ryan and bow Ross Morris rowed out of lane four against Purdue, Virginia, Brock, Bucknell and Florida University. The Dragons crossed the line in 6:08.56, less than one second behind Purdue, to earn Drexel's first medal of the 2011 Dad Vail Regatta.

Playing off of the momentum built in day one of racing, the Drexel varsity men's pair of stroke Liam O'Neill and bow Peter Schmidt rowing out of the Katherine M.L. Buckley continued their dominance with a first place finish in their heat besting Rollins by more than eight seconds with a time of 7:30.83. The Dragon's pair didn't disappoint as they fought back against Lafayette, Iona, Rollins, Pittsburgh and Fairfield to capture their second consecutive Bob Negaard Trophy in a time of 7:17.70.

The men's second varsity eight in the Annette Pinnoni with coxswain Steven Matyas, stroke Filip Topalovic, Milow Rujevic, Anthony Fittipaldi, Gregory Pierce, Kevin Rorabaugh, Brian Timlin, Ernesto Del Valle and bow Nick Buyse crossed the line in 6:20.50 just behind Temple and Virginia but ahead of Marietta College to qualify for a chance to win the Ernie Bayer Trophy. The men rowed out of lane six against Purdue, Temple, Michigan, Virginia and Delaware where they finished in 6:24.28, sixth place.

The women's second varsity eight rowing out of the Marlene Buckley also advanced through their semi-final heat with a time of 7:19.74, beating Marist, Fordham and Dayton for a third place finish. Coxswain Alexandra Paulin, stroke Taylor Mondak, Asiya Mahmud, Colleen Owens, Megan Bush, Juliana DeMarici, Samantha Cowan, Mollie Cusak and bow Brooke Wertan raced from lane one against Buffalo, Saint Joseph's, Bucknell, Purdue and Delaware for the Coleman D. Boylan Trophy. The Dragons finished in fifth place with a time of 7:10.16, over seven seconds in front of Purdue.

The women's varsity eight rowing the Marlene Buckley II with coxswain Kerry Walsh, stroke Elizabeth Bratton, Alexa Antonioli, Julia Jackson, Mallory Sykes, Kayla Wroblesky, Emily Coyle, Casondra Clawson and bow Dana Haneman earned a berth into the second finals after narrowly missing out on an appearance in the finals. The Dragons, along with Purdue and Cal St. Sacramento all finished within 0:01.8 of each other however only the first two boats qualified for the finals. The Drexel women had the fourth fastest time overall in the semi-finals out of 18 boats. In their second-finals race the women rowed out of lane two against Jacksonville, UMass, UConn, West Virginia and Dayton coming in first with a time of 6:46:64.

The men's varsity eight also just missed out on a berth in the finals when they finished their semi-final race in 6:00.4, behind Michigan and Virginia. Coxswain Randell Lee, stroke Kurt Linton, Gregg Francis, Aleksander Radovic, Lorenzo Albala, Michael Faust, Kyle Fable, Timothy Drake and bow Jacob Sloan rowing out of the Lois Krall raced from lane three against Grand Valley, Temple, Marist, Brock and Purdue crossing the line in first-place with a time of 5:52.98.

Drexel men's and women's crew will pick up action again on Thursday, June 2 through Saturday, June 4 as they head to the Cooper River in Camden, N.J. for the IRA National Championships.