May 13, 2009
Worcester, Mass. - The Georgetown University lightweight men's first varsity eight earned a bronze medal during the Grand Final of the Eastern Association of Rowing Colleges (EARC) Sprints on Sunday. The race marks the first trip to the Sprints medals dock for the Hoya Lightweight Varsity since 2004. In addition, four of the Hoyas' five lightweight crews made their respective Grand Final, the strongest team performance in Hoya history, at the prestigious Eastern Sprints championship.
Georgetown's first lightweight eight, consisting of cox Kevin Francolini, stroke Brendan McEwan, Tim Carey, Patrick Scanlon, Allen Carey, Scott Dotto, John Connolly, Bill Houston and bow Tim Freeman, earned a bronze medal in a time of 5:48.39, just over a tenth-of-a-second in front of Navy and behind Princeton and Harvard.
"The crew displayed resolve and an unwillingness to quit as we came back from an early deficit in the closing meters of the race," said senior co-captain and three-seat John Connolly. "That said, we have our work cut out for us if we want to catch the top two crews in the league and must prepare accordingly over the next few weeks."
Senior co-captain and varsity bowman Tim Freeman echoed his boatmate's comments: "Our team's racing in Worcester yielded a lot of positive results. Our freshman and junior varsity crews advanced to the grands and raced well against extremely deep fields. In the varsity race, our crew came from behind in the final strokes to snag the bronze. Though obviously not the color we wanted, it's hard not be pleased given the level of competition."
In each of the last two years, Georgetown has entered three lightweight eights. This year they entered a full squad of five lightweight eights, including three varsity and two freshman crews.
Facing daunting conditions, the second varsity eight finished sixth in the second varsity Grand Final with a time of 6:03.9. The Hoyas first freshman lightweight eight finished fifth in their Grand Final in 6:19.1, while the second freshman lightweight eight finished right in the thick of it, a strong fourth place 6:37.3.
"I was proud of our whole squad this weekend, the varsity in particular. We lost a couple days of water-time this past week and the guys handled that obstacle quite well," said Lightweight Head Coach Evans Liolin "The frosh are tall, strong and greater in number than any class to come before them. To the man, they are a class act and I am certain they will make a big impact on the varsity. Our men are learning to match their work ethic to their high expectations and it is an honor to coach them each day. We'll get there."
