CHERRY HILL, N.J. -- Four Fairfield University boats made a run to finals during last weekend's Knecht Cup, an event which takes place on the Cooper River in New Jersey. The men's varsity 4 and novice 8 each reached the petite final, while the women's varsity pair and novice 4 both reached their event's grand final.

               Grace Lessard and Lorena Gullotta started things in the pair by taking third place in its heat, crossing the finish line in 9:04.81. The pair's performance earned a spot in the final where it finished sixth with a slighter faster time of 8:59.73. UMass dominated the final with its B boat taking first (8:12.60) and it's A boat placing second in 8:27.81.

                The women's novice 4, comprised of  Katherine Pitz, Carmen Fox, Eileen Harris, Anne Baudinet, and coxswain Mikayla Daniels, won its opening heat with a time of 7:45.35, beating out Villanova by more than 10 seconds. The Stags advanced to the semifinal and were just one off another win, taking second (8:12.46) behind Duquesne A (7:55.84). Their time landed the crew into the Grand Final where it captured third place with a time of 7:57.73 behind Duquesne A (7:47.80) and Villanova A (7:51.97) and ahead of Old Dominion, Delaware and West Virginia.

                The men's novice 8, which included Tom Siddall, Scott Grueneberg, Chris Becker, Luke Auger, Alex Johnson, Rocco Vigorito, Sam Sullivan, Brenin Ford and coxswain Trent Dominges, kept itself busy with three races on the Cooper River, beginning with its fourth-place finish in the qualifying heat. The crew finished with a time of 6:37.18 behind Drexel (6:16.65), Delaware (6:23.86), and Penn State (6:27.34). The effort landed the novice 8 in the semifinal round where it took sixth place with a time of 6:39.48. Boston College won the semifinal race in 6:11.43, while fellow Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) school Marist secured third place in the semifinal (6:19.94). The day ended with a fourth-place finish in the Petite Final, finishing the race with a time of 6:21.90. Army won the Petite Final in 6:13.56, followed by Delaware (6:13.88), and Penn State (6:15.33) with LaSalle and Villanova filling out fifth and sixth.

                The men's varsity four began with a fifth-place finish in its heat, battling the course in 7:08.28. Fordham (6:54.12), Penn State (6:57.76), Marist (7:00.94), and Washington College (7:06.16) finished ahead of the Stags in the race. Fairfield place fifth again in the semi-final with a time of 7:01.46 with Penn State winning the race in 6:47.30. The Petite Final ended with a fourth-place finish despite the team's best time of the day at 6:57.57. Rochester won the race in 6:52.12 as a mere five seconds separated first through fourth places. The crew was comprised of Brendan Spearing, Floris-Jan Floris, Matt McNeill, Eddie Weiner, and coxswain Shannon Dermody

                The men's novice four raced twice during the Knecht Cup, taking second in its heat with a time of 7:49.38, just three seconds off Boston College A's top time of 7:35.89. In the semifinal, Fairfield fell of its heat time by a couple seconds, taking fifth in its race with a time of 7:51.72. Washington College received first place by crossing the line in 7:11.89. Sam Sullivan, Ariel Miranda, Stacey Grasso, Rocco Vigorito and coxswain Shannon Dermody represented Fairfield in the event.

                The women's varsity four took sixth in its only race of the day, ending its run with a time of 8:43.96. Duke won the heat and was the only crew to break eight minutes, finishing in 7:58.53. The crew included Molly Graffam, Kim Beatty, Sam Matte, Liz Kavanagh, and coxswain Jhomalys Moran

                The women's varsity eight finished in the same fashion as the four, holding sixth place after its time of 7:33.23. Boston College won the heat with a time of 6:45.96. Katherine Pitz, Carmen Fox, Eileen Harris, Kim Beatty, Molly Graffam, Anne Baudinet, Sam Matte, Liz Kavanagh, and coxswain Mikayla Daniels raced the event for the Stags.

             Phil Falco also entered the men's single event and took second place in the heat with a time of 8:16.91. Vassar won the race by 12 seconds, crossing the line in 8:04.90.

Coach David Patterson's Comments:
It is great for the team to come back from the Knecht Cup, which is arguably the hardest regatta on our schedule in terms of strength and depth of competition, with a fourth medal in four years. The run started with our men's lightweight four winning a silver medal in 2008, a bronze by the men's pair 2010 , and silver by the women's pair in 2011, and now a bronze for the women's novice four in 2012 (team did not attend 2009 regatta). The regatta also proved an important event in the learning curve for the two women rowing in the pair who were only put in the boat for the first time two weeks ago and includes Lorena Gullotta who walked on to the team last year and Grace Lessard who is a freshman walk on from this year.

While we knew we had a chance of being competitive in these events we also know that the long term project for this team is to work on becoming much, much stronger in the varsity eight, the second varsity eight and the varsity four which are the designated team boats for Division I rowing. While at the moment we are struggling for competitive boat speed in these events and also struggling for roster size to be able to contest all these events, the only way to expose our women's squad to the speed required to be competitive and therefore expose our athletes to the work required to move up the rankings is to enter these events and see how we measure up. The results clearly show what we already know to be true. We need more strength and more depth. However the transformations required are not going to happen overnight. The group we have now has the potential to make the changes required and our progress needs to be concerted in a united effort from everyone to get a little bit better every day.
 
The men's squad performed admirably in both the varsity four, novice eight and novice four. One thing all the men's crews need to focus on is consistency of performance. When they go on to the race course and put together a performance as good as they are capable of they are now in a position to be in the mix with a bunch of quality crews. The men's varsity four finished 10th with a 4th place finish in the petite final (racing for places 7 through 12). They put in a really great performance to get out of their very tricky heat, however there was a place in the grand final that was reachable if they produced perfection in the semi-final. If they had produced perfection in the petite final a 7th place finish was up for grabs which would have emulated the performance of the varsity four in 2008. Likewise the novice four moved to the semi-final with ease but when challenged at this next big hurdle they probably had their worst row this season and therefore missed out on a place in the petite final by 3 seconds. The men's novice eight also seemed to stumble in the semi-final round when they needed to be at their very best. However in all honesty the grand final was not really in reach for them at this event this year. With a petite final place secured and with no pressure other than a fight for a placing between 7th and 12th, they were able to turn in a solid performance. While it is clear that the critical evaluation shows that we have men's boats that need to handle the pressure of racing with a greater skill level, on the whole the men's team across the board showed that they are quickly developing into a force that needs to be taken into consideration by their opponents for the rest of this season and if the group sticks together and works hard in future seasons as well.