St. Joe’s women’s rowing has nine races this season, but only two are important: the one that gets them to the top of the Atlantic 10 (A-10) Tournament, and the one they are currently training for.
That, anyway, is Head Coach Gerry Quinlan’s mantra, according to graduate student Shannon Mulgrew, coxswain and team co-captain. She said it has been a part of the team’s mentality for the five years she has been a Hawk.
Quinlan explained what drives his team’s philosophy.
“Our main way to get to the NCAA Championships is by getting an automatic qualifier from A-10’s, so that’s our overall goal,” Quinlan said.
As for the second most important race: “We take care of business week to week, and we learn and we make adjustments,” Quinlan said.
Because COVID-19 canceled last year’s season, every race this year takes on added importance, said senior rower and co-captain Shane Devine.
“When we got shut down last spring, it was difficult at first to process,” Devine said. “But we basically took it as we didn’t get a race last season, so we’re going to do everything in our ability to train hard throughout quarantine and throughout last spring, this past summer and this fall, to really give ourselves the advantage to compete and to compete well.”
Mulgrew said this preparation is only possible through discipline on and off the water. That means avoiding gatherings that would put team members at risk of getting COVID-19.
“We had one case in the fall that shut down half of the team, but since then we haven’t had anything,” Mulgrew said.
Quinlan attributed this success to the leadership from graduate students and seniors on the team.
“It’s the key to our success so far, having people who lead mainly by example, always doing the right thing and taking the time to genuinely care about everybody else and make sure everybody’s in the right frame of mind,” Quinlan said.
Next up on the schedule for the Hawks is the Kelly Cup, which takes place May 1, and the Dad Vail Regatta, which will be held May 7 and 8.
“The Kelly Cup is really cool because it’s all the Philly schools, and then Dad Vail is really cool because you have a lot of colleges coming in with a lot of good competition,” Devine said.
The ultimate goal is the A-10 Tournament, though, which begins on May 15.
“We’ve had a lot of experience with racing a few A-10 teams these past few races, so we’re definitely in the mix, and it should be a good race,” Devine said.
George Washington University and the University of Massachusetts will be big match-ups. But Quinlan said there is one team in particular that the Hawks are looking to knock off the top—The University of Rhode Island.
“We’re faster than we were when we raced them two weeks ago, and I’m sure they’re faster than they were two weeks ago, so it’s a matter of who could add more speed in the closing couple of weeks,” Quinlan said. “But we have a good plan, and I think it’s going to be exciting.”
