BALTIMORE – Four incoming freshman – Delaney Gibbons, Frederich Lightner, Stefania Rocca and Brian Skeels – have announced their intention to compete for the Loyola University Maryland men's and women's rowing teams as part of a growing Class of 2023, Head Coach Megan Patrick announced today.
 
Gibbons will graduate from Mount Saint Mary Academy in Buffalo this spring after rowing for the school for the last four years, as well as the West Side Rowing Club. She is no stranger to the Greyhounds rowing program as her older sister, Keenan, was a four-year member of the program and graduated in 2018.
 
The younger Gibbons has been a member of two boats that earned bronze medals at the New York State Championships and another that earned a silver. She was also a team captain for Mount Saint Mary's in 2018. Gibbons, whose parents both competed in the sport at Canisius College, was a member of the National Honor Society, the Community Service Club, the Student Council and the Virtual Enterprises Business Competition Team in high school.
 
Lightner, who will graduate from James Madison High School in Northern Virginia this spring, has rowed for the Warhawks for four years. He has helped James Madison take first in the 2016 Regional Park Regatta and 12^th in the freshmen 8 at the 2016 Nationals.
 
Lightner was named the team's Most Improved Rower in 2017 and was a member of the boat that took 10^th in the junior 4 at the 2017 Stotesbury Cup. The following year, he helped the junior 8 take eighth at the same event. A member of the varsity eight for three years, Lightner is an avid photographer who has had several photographers published.
 
Rocca will join the Greyhounds after graduating from St. Anthony's High School on Long Island where she was a varsity rower for four years and a member of the varsity basketball team for two. She was the captain of the rowing team in 2018-19 and the Fall Rowing MVP in 2017.
 
Outside of athletics, Rocca was a member of the National Honor Society, the Social Studies Honor Society, a St. Bonaventure Scholar for earning a 95 percent or higher GPA and the Principal's Honor Roll. She also served with the History Club, her parish's Children's Choir and led sophomore retreats with the Kolbe Council.
 
Skeels comes to Loyola from Arlington High School in the Hudson Valley where he competed on the rowing team for four years and the swimming team for two. He was named the best rower for the 10^th, 11^th and 12^th grade boats and was a team captain, as well. He also rowed for the Orange County Rowing Association (OCRA) and the Hudson River Rowing Association (HRRA).
 
A member of the National Honor Society and the Boy Scouts, Skeels was a part of the first-place quad for OCRA at the 2017 Long Island Championships and in the varsity four at the New York State Championship Scholastic Rowing Regatta. He was in the first-place lightweight four at the Tail of the Fish at Saratoga Springs for OCRA in 2018 and in second for the lightweight eight for the HRRA.