May 16, 2007
Washington, D.C. - The Georgetown University men's and women's crews both competed in their respective Eastern Sprints Championships this past weekend. The ladies traveled to the Cooper River in Camden, N.J., while the men raced on historic Lake Quinsigamond in Worcester, Mass.
For the second year in a row the Varsity Lightweight Women's Eight won a bronze medal at the Eastern Sprints. Last year was the first time in the history of the women's program that a varsity crew had medaled. The nine girls in the crew were sophomore coxswain Liz Kucharzik (New Canaan, Conn./New Canaan), freshman stroke Alex Vezina (Tallahassee, Fla./Leon), senior Marcy Hupp (Kansas City, Mo./St. Teresa's Academy), senior Lauren Moldawer (Gainesville, Fla./Gainesville), sophomore Samantha Miller (San Francisco, Calif./St. Ignatius College Prep), junior Maria Lipperini (Collingswood, N.J./Bishop Eustace Prep), freshman Laura Donaldson (Berkeley, Calif./Berkeley), senior Dana Goldman (Newton, Mass./Milton Academy) and junior bow Kristin Jasiukiewicz (Huntingdon Valley, Pa./Mount St. Joseph Academy).
"Due to the success these girls have had over the last two seasons it might be easy for people to forget that only two years ago we lost this race by 19 seconds," said Women's Lightweight Varsity Coach Jim O'Connor. "The group has come a long way and it is a good sign of the continued improvement of the entire squad."
The Lightweight Men's Varsity finished sixth in a very fast grand final. All crews were separated by only one seat going through the 1,000m mark and 5.5 seconds separated first from sixth at the finish line.
"The Sprints are one of the toughest races in the country," said senior co-captain Mike McGrath (Fairfield, Conn./Fairfield Prep). "Sunday's race demonstrates just how tight the field is. We have three weeks to sharpen things up before the National Championship, and then we'll take another crack at the competition."
The Junior Varsity rowed their best race of the year finishing second in the petite final and the Freshmen put together an exciting come-from-behind win in their petite final.
"I am particularly proud of the freshmen. They demonstrated tremendous willpower in the last 500 meters by moving through four boats, including Harvard and Penn who had beaten them by 10 seconds three weeks earlier, to cross the finish line first. It will be exciting to see what they contribute to the varsity next year," said McGrath.
"You couldn't ask for more out of them," said senior co-captain Patrick Sheridan (Pittsburgh, Pa./Shady Side Academy).
"While we had hoped for a medal, I am pleased with our team's persistence," said varsity lightweight coach Evans Liolin. "This was the first championship race for many of these guys and the first grand final appearance for all but two members of the varsity crew. They understand better the depth and tenacity of the lightweight final and are working toward the IRA."
On the heavyweight side, the men's Junior Varsity eight and Second Freshman eight also made the grand final. The JV upset Penn and Navy to make the grand final, the first Georgetown heavyweight crew to do so, finishing ahead of the likes of Princeton, Navy, Penn, Syracuse and Northeastern. The boat consisted of sophomore coxswain Jack Carlson (Weston, Mass./Buckingham Browne and Nichols), senior stroke Tom Hennessy (Lake Forest, Ill./Lawrenceville School), sophomore Sam Bourneuf (Boston, Mass./Roxbury Latin School), sophomore Spencer Almy (Portland, Ore./Grant), senior Joe Leveroni (San Francisco, Calif./St. Ignatius College Prep), senior Gordon Erndt (Cincinnati, Ohio/St. Xavier), sophomore Michael Stack (Alexandria, Va./Gonzaga College HS), junior Nick Berry (New York, N.Y./Brooks School) and junior bow Joe McElwee (Media, Pa./St. Joseph's Prep).
Additionally, the Varsity and Freshman heavyweight eights made the petite final, making it the best performance overall for the heavyweight squad since Georgetown began competing at the Eastern Sprints in 2003.
