Despite having to wait until mid-April for the water in the North Country to thaw, the St. Lawrence University men's rowing team is continuing to improve, showcasing their strides at this Sunday's Liberty League Championship races in Saratoga Springs, NY.

The Saints varsity 8+ showed vast improvement from just two weeks ago when the boat lost to RIT by over 50 seconds and to Skidmore by 17. On Sunday, St. Lawrence closed the gap on RIT to 10 seconds and fell to Skidmore by just .06 seconds to finish in fifth place ahead of Union with a time of 6:19.73. Hobart won the conference title in 5:53.02.

St. Lawrence's varsity 8+ included Evan Pierce, Francis Stripp, Travis Galowski, Alec Durkin, Ted Marr, Jack Riordan, Andy Caswell, Kyle Benzing and coxswain Lauren Ward.

The JV 8+ was forced to deal with line-up changes due to injury, but survived a tough semifinal heat with a time of 6:48.73 to earn a spot in the finals. The boat was fourth overall in the finals in 6:38.22, less than two seconds out of third. Christina Robichaud coxed the JV boat which was comprised of Chester Hojnicki, Karl Strahl, Drew Twitchell, Palchen Wangchuk, Dan Tobin, Steve Grow, Michael Brewer and Phil Hodosy.

The Saints' men's rowing team will compete in next weekend's New York State Championships in Whitney Point, NY.