The St. Joe’s men’s and women’s rowing teams had a successful showing on April 14 while competing in their respective events. 

The men’s Varsity 8 ended Drexel University’s eight-year winning streak after finishing first in their feature event at the annual Kerr Cup on the Schuylkill River.

The women’s Varsity 8 captured second final in the same regatta by defeating Canisius University. Their Third Varsity 8 finished in second place behind Drexel, in what was a tight battle. 

Heading into the men’s event, senior rower Claudio Recchilungo said winning the Murphy Cup two weeks prior gave them a lot of confidence. 

“The confidence level was high,” Recchilungo said.  “We had a good head on our shoulders. As a team, we believed that if we put our best race down that we can come out on top.”

 Recchilungo said that while the eighty degree conditions were nice, the headwind made things difficult. 

“We had to row against the headwind, which acted as a wall,”  Recchilungo said. “We had to try to take advantage of the conditions. Everyone has to go through the same weather. Our mentality is that if we can row better in this weather then usually you can win the race.” 

 Recchilungo said their rhythm in the boat helped them to perform as well as they did. 

“Getting that same swing and momentum with everyone coinciding in the same motion is a big thing on our team across all boats,” Recchilungo said. “Developing a good rhythm and send allows us to work in unison.” 

 Recchilungo said their end goal is to make it to the Intercollegiate Rowing Association National Championship. 

“We want to win out the rest of the season with the ultimate goal of reaching IRA,”  Recchilungo said. 

The women also had a lot of confidence headed into the weekend after the team’s Third Varsity 8 was named Atlantic 10 Boat of the Week at the George Washington Invitational. 

“There was definitely more confidence this week,” senior rower Maria Biancaniello said. “Winning boat of the week was a big deal for us and it helped us going into this week.” 

Biancaniello said the warm conditions helped them a lot with their performance. 

 “We’re used to racing in all kinds of conditions. It’s something we love to do,” Biancaniello said.  

Biancaniello said she has an overall positive assessment of the team’s performance. She also said the team has improvements to make. 

“We need to build as  a team,” Biancaniello said. “We need to be unified and continue to build chemistry.” 

Both the men’s and women’s teams return to action on April 21. The men will compete in the Bergen Cup and the women will compete in the Kelly Cup, both held in Philadelphia.