WASHINGTON - With winds gusting up to 30 mph, the Georgetown men's rowing team raced against some of the best competition in the world on Sunday at the 50th Head of the Charles Regatta in Boston. The Hoyas competed in both the Championship Eights and the Lightweight Eights events.

In a very competitive, 36-crew Championship Eight race, Georgetown placed 24th with a time of 15:15.739. With a field that consisted of the top collegiate boats in the country, as well as some international crews, the Hoyas were less than 12 seconds from finishing in the top 10 of collegiate programs.

Georgetown's lineup consists of coxswain Bethany Biszko ( Tiverton, R.I./St Mary's Academy-Bay View), stroke Mike Davidson ( Southport, Conn./Choate Rosemary Hall), Hayden Pascal ( Greenwich, Conn./Taft School), Graham Miller ( Greenwich, Conn./Brunswick), Robert Danziger ( Lincoln, Mass./Belmont Hill), John Carroll (Bronxville, N.Y./Fordham Prep), Chris Cacace ( Yonkers, N.Y./Hackley School), Bram Ouweleen ( Evaston, Ill./Evaston Township) and bow Nakul Makkad ( Fullerton, Calif./Fairmont Prep).

The lightweight eights finished 15th in their 17-crew event, facing some of the best collegiate lightweight boats in the country, crossing the finish line in 16:08.143.

GU's crew was rowed by coxswain Robert Papel (Nashville, Tenn./Montgomery Bell Academy), stroke Peter Mangan (Buffalo, N.Y./Canisius High School), Kevin McGowan (Bowie, Md./Gonzaga HS), Luke Prioleau (Palo Alto, Calif./Palo Alto), Thomas Brzozowski (Cleveland, Ohio/St. Ignatius HS), Jack Sardinia (Hamburg, N.Y./Canisius HS), Gerard Thiers (Langhorne, Pa./LaSalle College HS), Chris Graff (El Dorado Hills, Calif.) and bow Dan Kreytak (Lexington, Mass./Belmont Hill).

"Overall, the Head of the Charles was a very productive weekend," said Georgetown Men's Rowing Head Coach Luke Agnini. "Our Championship Eight crew was a young lineup, with five sophomores. They are a little rough around the edges, but it was great to see them have a solid piece. They were on the attack the entire way. They are very responsive to the training and will continue to improve weekly. I give a lot of credit to them and especially our senior coxswain Beth Bizko for getting them down the course. She was able to avoid collisions while we were passing some crews. I am looking forward to a better performance out of both the heavyweight and lightweight next weekend at the (Princeton) Chase."

Georgetown will be back in action this Sunday, racing at the Princeton Chase Regatta in Princeton, N.J.