Rowing seeks another successful season
Coming off of successful seasons, the St. Joe’s rowing teams hope to have a repeat performance.
In 2017, the men’s rowing team’s Varsity 8 boat earned second place at the Dad Vail Regatta, the largest collegiate rowing event in the nation with over 100 schools in attendance. Their silver-medal performance was the program’s best since 2003, and it earned them an at-large bid to Intercollegiate Rowing Association (IRA) National Championship.
St. Joe’s has not made it to the national championship since the late 1990’s, according to men’s head coach Mike Irwin. The Varsity 8 came in 22nd out of 24 boats, making them one of the top 25 in the nation.
The program graduated five seniors, four of whom were in the three varsity boats. There are still numerous returning athletes who know what it is like to make it to the national championships and plan to get back there this season.
“In earlier years, we weren’t at a level where we could talk about being at the national championship,” Irwin said. “We could talk about it as a long term goal but not a seasonal goal.”
The men’s rowing squad boasts a roster of 38 athletes, more than most teams on campus. Their numbers give them depth that allows them to have three varsity boats and a number of novice boats. According to Irwin, who has been in charge of the program for seven years, every member of the team is crucial to the program’s success.
“It doesn’t matter if you’re in the top boat or the bottom boat, or even a spare to the bottom boat, there’s value to everyone in creating energy in the boathouse, energy in the room, energy in the water” Irwin said. “Our first Varsity 8 isn’t going to be successful if our second Varsity 8 isn’t pushing.”
The Hawks place emphasis on the fact that even though their team hopes to make it back to the IRA championships, they are not the same team as they are last year. Irwin said that because the program is in its 64th year, they call themselves “Team 64.”
Instead of comparing themselves to their opponents around the country, the team builds off of what they did in the past and be better than they were the previous year.
“Each year we create our own identity,” Irwin said. “We don’t expect to be like team 63, because some of those people graduated, and we have some new freshmen coming in. Each year the team personality is going to be a little different, so it is about embracing that change where we’re not trying to be last year’s team. We’re trying to be the next step forward, whatever that may be.”
The women’s crew team was young last season and still garnered success. Most freshmen on the team competed at the Varsity level, but the freshman squad still went 9-1 on the season.
“We had ups and downs as we got acclimated to being college freshmen and the rigors of division I training,” women’s head coach Gary Quinlan said. “We’re really looking forward to this season, because we were so young and still had a lot of success last year.”
According to Quinlan, all of the team’s boats made it to the final in the Dad Vail Regatta, a feat that the team does not always accomplish. The Varsity 8 won a bronze medal as well.
The Hawks did not make it to the NCAA national championships, as they tied for fifth place in the Atlantic 10 Championships. This season, they hope to win it now that they have more experience under their belts and nine seniors to guide the effort.
“I think we’re poised to do that for this year and the next few, because we’re still very young,” Quinlan said.
The men’s and women’s squads will compete in the Murphy Cup in Philadelphia on March 31.
