Panther Mens Varsity Eight Wins Back the Jerome P. Keuper Cup at the 2007 Keuper Cup Regatta

FELLESMERE, Fla.- Florida Tech hosted the 27th Annual Keuper Cup Regatta out at Canal 54 in Fellesmere, Fla. The first Keuper Cup was held in the spring of
1980 to honor Florida Tech’s former president and his wife Jerome P. and Natalie P. Keuper, in which the MV8 and WV8 cup races are named, long-time
supporters of the Panther rowing program.

For story with photos and results: http://gopanthers.fit.edu/uploads/14013_2007/2007 Keuper Cup
Regatta Results.pdf . The day included eleven races for both men’s and women’s events with four institution’s participating including; the Temple
University Owls, the Stetson University Hatters, the Embry-Riddle Aeronautical Eagles and the host Florida Tech Panthers.

In the Men’s Varsity Eight -Jerome P. Keuper cup race Florida Tech battled to bring back the trophy home after falling to Temple in 2006 and defeating
Temple in 2005. The Panther men paced the best time of the day two second faster than the Temple Owls with the winning time of 6:02.00. Temple, a perennial
rowing powerhouse, came in second with a 6:04.00 finish with Embry Riddle coming in third at 7:03.00

Without senior co-captain Gabe Candelaria (Albuquerque, New Mexico), who is currently home due to a medical injury, was able pull of the huge win. The
varsity eight was lead by senior coxswain Aliyah Snyder (Niceville, Fla.). Sophomore Taylor Brown (Winter Park, Fla.) stroked the boat with freshman Kevin
Moore (Mays Landing, N.J.) in the seven seat, sophomore Jimmy Woodard (Kissimmee, Fla.) in the six seat, junior Paul Bunkers (Winter Park, Fla.) in the
five seat, sophomore Tyler Jandreau (China, Maine) in the four seat, junior Justin Eickmeier (Pickering, Ontario) in the three seat, junior Chris Lambert
(Plantation, Fla.) in the two seat and senior Jeff Tessier (Cohoes, N.Y.) in the bow.

In the Women’s Varsity Eight-Natalie P. Keuper cup race Temple took home cup once again defeating the Panthers by six seconds on a 2,000 meter course at
7:01.00. Despite the second place finish, the extremely young Tech women’s eight finished with a much better time than last year’s varsity eight at
7:07.68. Stetson pulled off the third place finish with a time of 7:40.56 while Embry-Riddle finished fourth with a 7:56.93 time.

Also without their senior captain Jessica House (Satellite Beach, Fla.), due to a back injury, the women’s varsity eight was comprised of six freshman, one
sophomore and two seniors. Led by senior coxswain Morgan Tweedie (Osprey, Fla.) and stroked by freshman Laurel Borgais (Spokane, Wash.)the Panthers managed
to grab the silver for the day. Other members of the boat; sophomore Jennifer “JJ” Johnson (Portland, Ore.) in the seven seat, senior Rachel Purvis
(Brockville, Ontario) in the six seat, freshman Amanda Saeger (Des Plaines, Ill.), freshman Cheryl Skibski (Tolland, Mass.) in the four seat,
freshman-recruit Sam Roman (Jacksonville, Fla.) in the three seat, freshman Julie Mabry (St. Louis, Mo.) in the two seat and freshman Mikaela “Micky”
Devaux (Gros-Islet, St. Lucia) in the bow.

Florida Tech came in second for the All Points trophy only four points shy of Temple who took home the Keuper Cup All Points Trophy with a final score of
49 points. Tech finished with 45 points while Stetson had 16 points and Embry-Riddle concluded the day with 3 points.

The Panthers also won three other races for the day including the Men’s Novice Four defeating Temple and Stetson with a 7:28.00 gold time. The Women’s
Varsity Lightweight Four also brought home the winning honor with a 7:57.00 time pushing past Temple and Embry-Riddle. Florida Tech, despite only racing
another Panther eight, also won the Men’s Novice Eight with the lightweight boat shutting down the heavyweights by almost twenty second with a 6:46.59
time.

Both teams will again host another regatta next weekend, “same time, same place, same channel” so the speak, putting on the 2007 Governor’s Cup Regatta at
Canal 54 on Saturday, March 17th.

For more information follow the Carl Kotala story on the Florida Today website: http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070310/SPORTS/703100334/1002/SPORTS