May 12, 2006

PHILADELPHIA - The University of Dayton looks to defend its lightweight eight championship in the Dad Vail which begins with preliminary heats on Friday morning on the scenic Schuykill river.

UD sends three different shells into competition this weekend including a lightweight eight that won the 2005 Dad Vail Championship and is ranked eighth in the latest CRCA Coaches Poll. The Flyers will also compete in varsity eight and novice eight.

"We hope to improve on our results from last season and put all three boats in the finals this year," UD Head Coach Mike Farrey said. "Our lightweight eight looks to repeat its success from last year while the varsity eight will face 32 other boats this weekend in stiff competition. It appears that most of the A-10 schools have entered the Dad Vail this year, so we would like to stay on their radar as much as we can."

Dayton finished third at the Atlantic 10 Championships on April 23 on the strength of a first place finish from the lightweight eight and third place finishes by the novice and varsity eights.

"We treat the A-10 regatta as our biggest race of the year," Farrey said. "Since our eights finished well there hopefully it carries over to the Dad Vail. Because we treat the A-10s as our biggest race, we don't have as much pressure heading into this weekend. Last year that helped us and we hope it will do the same this year."

For more information on the 2006 Dad Vail regatta including directions and results, log on to www.DadVail.org.