Erie, Pa. - Mercyhurst Rowing gets back out on the water after a week off to begin the month of May. They are set to compete in the Dad Vails this upcoming Friday and Saturday in Cherry Hill, N.J., looking to secure their position before the IRA Championships.

The Lakers have put together some strong performances of late, hoping to carry the momentum from their last few races into this one. Varsity fours have been on a tear here recently starting with a gold medal in the Knecht Cup where they defeated Drexel in the Grand Final before taking home their second gold medal of the day with a time of 7:01.78. They followed that with three wins in the Marietta Invite while coming away with a win in the MACRA Championships as well with a time of 7:06.6

Varsity eights have had their own run of success over that stretch as well. They grabbed a pair of wins in the Marietta Invite with them defeating both Adrian and Marietta by 15 seconds with times of 5:59.5 and 5:54.4. They then continued their strong season in the MACRA Championships with a win over Minnesota, finishing with a time of 6:19.5.

The women have had their own success with them claiming multiple wins in the Marietta Invite, the Canisius Invite, and the East Regional Invite. The Lakers come off a very successful weekend in the East Regional Invite in which they took home the trophy. The variety eights won a pair of races with times of 7:11.5 and 7:02.5 to help them claim another top podium finish, giving them momentum heading into the final few weeks of competition.

The Dad Vails is a race the Lakers are quite familiar with, having success there a season ago. They clinched the J. Lynch Trophy, defeating Fairfield, Iona, Fordham, and La Salle with a time of 6:30:403 by the lightweight fours while lightweight eights collected a podium finish, coming in behind MIT in the Grand Final. The Lakers claimed another trophy at the event with the women's eights claiming the Backe Trophy with a time of 6:22.645 against a stacked field.

Hear From Coach

"This end-of-season race is one that the rowers mark on their calendar. In past years there have been over 100 schools attending and having that many teams at one competition creates an exciting atmosphere," said Director of Rowing Adrian Spracklen. "We have been fortunate to have had great success over the years and the expectation remains the same. We are optimistic we can get on the podium in many events and hope our results are good enough to get an invite to the national rowing championships in three weeks" 

What's Next

The women eye the NCAA Champions after completing the Dad Vails with that competition set to begin on May 26th running through the 27th in Cherry Hill, N.J. The men turn their attention to the IRA Championships in West Windsor, N.J. for their final race taking place on June 2nd through the 4th.