2008 Woodie Awards
Crew measures up against local competition
Dan Keenan
Issue date: 4/8/08 Section: Sports
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Opinions Editor
Last Saturday, the Loyola crew team competed successfully in the Johns Hopkins Invitational. The rowing team finished strong, matching up with some of the strongest, powerhouse teams in the Mid-Atlantic, including George Mason, Maryland, Old Dominion University and Mary Washington.
The Hounds, who raced on a course they share with Johns Hopkins here in Baltimore, endured wind gusts throughout the day, at one point suspending all races.
Looking to build on the confidence gained from last weekend at the Murphy Cup, the team fielded an array of different boats, from a men's pair to a group of four- and eight-person boats.
The men's pair started the morning; they were rowed by seniors John Searls and Matt Spalluzi, who set the tone for Loyola's strong performance by taking second overall. Loyola's women's varsity eight, led by senior Nikki Yaeger, advanced to the Grand Final, finishing third overall with a time of 6:48.79. They missed second place by 1.78 seconds, falling just short of Mary Washington.
Lafayette went on to first place, less than five seconds ahead of the Hounds.
"It was a nice heat," coach Al Ramirez said. "Loyola edged out University of Mary Washington in the mid third of the race, but were surprised by Lafayette's strong middle thousand."
The men's varsity eight, rowed by Devin Marsicovetere, Nick Miano, Marc Hesse, Dennis Delany, Zach Reichenbach, Jack Vitanovec, Dan Reardon and Cody Kishur fought hard for a narrow first-place finish in their initial heat against Mary Washington. Advancing to the Grand Finals, their boat, neck and neck until the last second with George Mason's varsity eight, managed to outrow them with a time of 5:40.28. They finished just 0.77 seconds ahead of George Mason.
The men's varsity four, coxed by freshman Rachel Tarini and rowed by Dennis Delany, Zach Reichenbach, Tom Bellew and Daniel Keenan, fought off high swells in the inner basin's water during their qualifying heat. They advanced to the Petite Final, where they took first place with a time of 6:46.07.
"[It was a] solid finish," Ramirez said. "Their first heat was tense -- it was these rowers' first time rowing together -- yet Dennis Delany gave a strong performance stroking the boat. You could definitely tell the stroke of the rowers in the boat improved from their first heat race to their final heat."
Also taking a first-place finish in a finals heat was the men's novice four -- a race that was suspended until the end of the day due to the weather -- consisting of Mike Mikula, Josh Tarini, Zuri Malick and Sean Baker.
"These guys put in a solid win, but still have some technique to refine," Ramirez said. "But it was a good start."
Coxing the men's JV eight, coxswain Rachel Tarini and the boat's rowers, Mike Mikula, John Searls, Travis O'Neill, Josh Tarini, Zuri Malick, Maciej Owsianny, Alex Canale and Daniel Keenan, found themselves in a hard fight for third place in their Grand Final race.
"They got off to a solid start but their pace just seemed to evaporate in the second half of the race," Ramirez said. "It was their head-to-head match up with the University of Maryland where their pace would either make or break their standing in the end."
In the last 200 meters the Hounds powered up and were able to overtake the Maryland's eight and cruise to a comfortable third-place finish overall, clocking in the 2,000-meter race at 6:28.28.
"Overall," Ramirez said, "A good race day for us. We showed some good competitive metal in some hard fought wins against some top-rate schools in the area."
But with some of the biggest races coming up in the next few weeks, including the MAAC Championships in two weeks, Ramirez is concerned about the team keeping focused:
"George Mason showed a lot of sharp rowing and we are going to have to continue to sharpen up our mentality."
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