Techs Mens Novice Lightweight Eight and Mens Varsity Heavyweight Eight Medals at Dad Vails

PHILADELPHIA, Pa. – Out of the 118 teams that competed in the 69th running of the Dad Vail Regatta, the Florida Tech Panthers reached the podium twice.
Also recognized during the competition was Florida Tech’s 1982 Men’s Varsity Heavyweight 8 team that won the ‘Richard O’Brien Trophy’ capturing Tech’s
first ever Dad Vail Varsity Eight Championship; a feat that no other southern team has done before.

Tech’s Men’s Frosh Novice Lightweight 8 earned gold medals winning the ‘Brendan Lynch Cup’ trophy as they finished with a time of 6:14.91 cutting 42
seconds off their time from the SIRA’s. Freshman Novice Coach Tim Watson joined the team at the podium applauding their performance holding a smile that
could be seen from the starting line. Tim stated “the boat had an excellent practice the night before and I am anticipating a strong race by them.” After
the race Watson continued to state that he was proud of the boat because he knew how much hard work and effort has gone into the year and that they (the
boat) deserve recognition for their efforts and it couldn’t have come at a better time than at the Dad Vail. The MNLTWT8 is coxed by Christa Blaisdell
(Lake Elmo, MN), stroked by Logan Sailer (Idaho Falls, ID), seventh seat by Stan Van Etten (Orlando, Fla.), sixth seat by Matt Strand (Melbourne, Fla.),
fifth seat by Travis Schramek (Palm Harbor, Fla.), fourth seat by Mateo Arimany (Guatemala City, Guatemala), third seat by Mark Moyou (Trincity, Trinidad),
second seat by Charles Pearson (Destin, Fla.), in the bow seat is Michael Mathews Jr. (Virginia Beach, Va.).

The Men’s Varsity Heavyweight 8 reached the podium receiving bronze medals with a time of 5:46.19 in the final heat of the Dad Vail Regatta. The MV8
finished behind Purdue University that came in first with a time of 5:42.59 and Temple University in second place with a time of 5:44.83. Also in the race,
Tech finished in front of Marietta who came in fourth, Jacksonville in fifth, and Army who placed sixth. The MV8+ is coxed by Aliyah Snyder (Niceville,
Fla.), stroked by Taylor Brown (Winter Park, Fla.), seventh seat Kevin Moore (Mays Landing, NJ), sixth seat by Jimmy Woodard (Kissimmee, Fla.), fifth seat
by Gabe Candelaria (Albuquerque, NM), fourth seat by Tyler Jandreau (China, Ma.), third seat by Paul Bunkers (Winter Park, Fla.), second seat by Chris
Lambert (Plantation, Fla.), and bow seat is Jeff Tessier (Cohoes, NY).

The women’s varsity eight who qualified for the finals on Friday finished 6th with a time of 6:59.5 but head coach Adam Thorstad was delighted and very
proud of the girl’s performance over the weekend. Thorstad and the team are waiting to hear if they will qualify for the NCAA Championships after the
voting is held on Tuesday, May 15th. The WV8 is coxed by Morgan Tweedie (Osprey, Fla.) stroked by Laurel Borgias (Spokane, Wash.), seven seat Mikki Devaux
(Gros-Islet, St. Lucia), six by Rachel Purvis (Brockville, Ontario), fifth by Amanda Saeger (Des Plaines, Ill.), fourth seat by Cheryl Skibski (Tolland,
Mass.), third seat by Sam Roman (Jacksonville, Fla.), second seat by Safia Tappan (Sarasota, Fla.), and in the bow seat is Jennifer Johnson (Portland,
Oregon).

The Men’s Varsity pair of Matt Lipka (Nashua, NH) and Ray Deskins III (Sterling, Va.) couldn’t qualify to get past the semi’s as they placed 6th with a
time of 8:06.18 finishing behind Buffalo who finished first with a time of 7:01.8 and Washington University in second 7:08.58 who advanced to the finals.

Also recognized during the festivities was Florida Tech’s 1982 Men’s Varsity Heavyweight 8 team that won the ‘Richard O’Brien Trophy’ capturing Tech’s
first ever Dad Vail Varsity Eight Championship defeating Temple University who was the dominate team during that time. The Championship was a feat that no
other southern team has done before and repeated the MV8 title in ’88. The boat was recognized as they rowed down the course as alumni, friends, and
spectators cheered and applauded their accomplishment. On that spring day in ’82, Florida Tech had one of the institutes finest rowing days with wins by
the Men’s Junior Varsity 8, the Men’s Lightweight Four, and the Women’s Varsity Four which led the way for the team to win the Dad Vail Overall
Championship Title.

To check out the entire Dad Vail Regatta Official Final Results go to the official Dad Vail website at http://www.dadvail.org/ to get all information on and about the 69th running of the Dad Vail Regatta.