The St. Lawrence University men's varsity 8+ regained the Houlihan Cup on Saturday, as the Saints held off a late surge from Hamilton College in their annual dual race in Rome, NY.

The Saints finished with a time of 6:14.61 on the 2,000m course, narrowly edging out the Continentals who rowed in 6:16.26. The Saints took an early lead, and though Hamilton went stroke-for-stroke throughout the race, St. Lawrence held on to its advantage. The Continentals put a charge into the race late, but the Saints countered and hung on for the win by less than two seconds.

The Saints' winning varsity 8+ was comprised of Evan Pierce, Francis Stripp, Travis Galowski, Alec Durkin, Ted Marr, Jack Riordan, Andy Caswell, Kyle Benzing and coxswain Lauren Ward.

St. Lawrence put together an impressive race in the 2V as well, rowing away from two Hamilton crews for an easy victory. The Saints finished in 6:30.21, 14 and 24 seconds ahead of the two Hamilton boats, respectively, despite rowing several stokes per minute lower than their opponents. Chester Hojnicki, Sam Pratt, Drew Twitchell, Palchen Wangchuk, Dan Tobin, Steve Grow, Michael Brewer, Phil Hodosy and coxswain Christina Robichaud raced for the Scarlet and Brown in the victorious 2V.

The Saints novice 4+, which included Michael Bauman, Erik Werner, Casimir Misiewicz, Karl Strahl and Jenna Mead, also put together its best race of the season on Saturday. Hamilton surged out to a big lead at the start, but the Saints closed the gap and eventually took the lead with 500m to go. Though the Continentals reclaimed the lead thanks to experience down the stretch, it was a solid row for the St. Lawrence crew which has made great strides despite limited time on the water.

The men's rowing team now enters the championship portion of its season, beginning with the 2014 Liberty League Championships this Sunday, April 27 in Saratoga Springs, NY.