PHILADELPHIA, Pa. – The Maritime men's and women's rowing teams opened their 2016-17 season on Saturday on the Schuylkill River at the Navy Day Regatta hosted by St. Joseph's University.
 
The Privateers men's team competed in three events at the regatta, with Maritime finishing in 11th place of 14 in the collegiate four in their opening race of the season. In the open four, Maritime took 4th place of four, while in the collegiate novice four; the team took 11th place of 14 as well.
 
The women's rowing team competed in the collegiate novice four and finished in fifth place of the 13 teams competing in the event.
 
The men's collegiate foursome was led by a group of five seniors as Corey Toscano (Union Vale, N.Y./Our Lady Of Lourdes), Declan Albert (Danville, Ken./Canisius (N.Y.)), Michael Kane Jr. (Lewes, Del./Salesianum), and Liam Gagliano (Oyster Bay, N.Y./Oyster Bay) raced, with Rachel DeFroda (Wilmington, Del./Delaware Military Academy) guided the male quartet as coxswain.
 
The team posted a time of 16:01.210 and finished ahead of Penn State, Lafayette and Merchant Marine. Host St. Joseph's swept the medals along the 5,000-meter race.
 
In the men's open four, seniors Luke Zappulla (Point Pleasant, N.J./Point Pleasant Beach) and Jeffrey Burgess (Sarasota, Fla./Sarasota Military Academy) along with juniors Quinlan McLoughlin (Valhalla, N.Y./Valhalla) and Trevor Belson (Kings Park, N.Y./Kings Park) finished in fourth place with a time of 16:39.430. The foursome, with sophomore Christopher Chilelli (Bordentown N.J./Bordentown Regional) as coxswain, finished behind two University Barge Club's two entries, and one entry from the Baltimore Rowing Club.
 
Later in the day, the collegiate novice four took to the river with sophomore Justin Fitje (Bayport, N.Y./Bayport-Blue Point), and freshmen Adam Durrua (Point Pleasant, N.J./Point Pleasant Beach), John Woods (Worcester, Mass./St. John's), and Zach Woolley (Poughkeepsie, N.Y./Poughkeepsie) competing in their first event together. With freshman Madison Burbol (Bellport, N.Y./Bellport) in the role as coxswain, the Privateers finished in 11th place with a time of 17:01.610.
 
Maritime finished ahead of Merchant Marine, Lehigh and Catholic. Navy took the first five finishing positions in the event with all five of their entries finishing with times less than 15:25.790.
 
Finally, the revamped women's team had a strong showing in their first race of the season with a fifth place finish in the collegiate novice four with a time of 18:55.980. A 10-second penalty bumped the Privateers from their original fourth place finish.
 
Comprised of a quartet made up of freshmen, Maritime had Jennifer Buchner (Shoreham, N.Y./Shoreham-Wading River), Gabriella Franco (East Setauket, N.Y./St. Anthony's), Haleigh Sammons (Fort Plain, N.Y./Fort Plain) and Arina Suprunova (Brooklyn, N.Y./James Madison) all make their collegiate debuts. DeFroda's experience assisted as coxswain to help the group to the top-five finish.
 
Next weekend, the Maritime men's rowing team will be back in action at the famed Head of the Charles Regatta on the Charles River in Boston, Mass. Next weekend, the women's team will be off but will rejoin the men's team the following weekend at the Head of the Fish Regatta on Fish Creek in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.