By Peter Valentino

On the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia on Saturday, April 15, the Rams’ rowing teams competed in the Kerr Cup. The first varsity eight finished third, while the second varsity eight won the event.

The second varsity eight easily won their heat at 7:01:5, beating Temple, Lehigh, Villanova and Drexel’s B-teams. This took them to the grand final, where they won at 7:06:2, finishing three seconds ahead of Drexel’s A-team. Coach Ted Bonanno said that this shell showed great improvement. “They were closer to Temple who they raced at the Knecht Cup and competitive with an outstanding Drexel Crew.” said Bonano. The Rams also had a second shell run with the varsity eights as the B-team, placing fifth in its heat and fourth in the petit finals.

As far as the first varsity eight, the team finished third overall in the grand final, but finished first in their heat at 7:19:05. The shell finished four seconds behind Drexel and three seconds behind Temple at 7:03:31.

The varsity fours also had a solid running, placing third in their heat at 7:47:99, behind Drexel and Temple, but ahead of LaSalle and Loyola. They missed the grand final by 0.1 seconds. The freshman/novice teams placed fourth at 9:05:44, behind LaFayette, NYU and Army’s A-team.

Coach Bonanno was very proud of all his shells at the regatta, stating that many of them improved tremendously. “At this point, they are clearly at top team for both A-10’s and the Dad Vail” said Bonnano.

The next regatta is the A-10 Championship in Pennsauken Township, New Jersey, just outside of Philadelphia. This will take place on May 6th, and the Dad Vail Regatta will take place the week after on the Schuylkill.