The Hawks had no time to rest this weekend as City Championships directly followed the 2-day Stotesbury Regatta. Many boats raced for the 3rd and 4th times in one weekend, demonstrating their discipline and competitiveness.


Boy’s Freshman/Novice Double
The morning started off with a head race for the boys freshman novice double. Colin and Matteo completed their 1500 meter race with poise in 5:40.35. They were able to push past two Philadelphia rival schools to snag 8th place.

Boy’s Junior Varsity Single
Joey competed against 8 other JV singles in his early-morning head race and fought his way into the afternoon final. He finished his first race in 6:01.18 and smoked his first time in the final by finishing in 5:34.86. Joe finished in 5th place beating out an establishing Philadelphia rival boat.

Boy’s Varsity Double
Tyler and Keaton raced against 13 other competitive boats in their head race. They finished in 9th place with a time of 5:01.66. Keaton and Tyler are gearing up to compete in SRAA’s this weekend in Princeton. We expect the pair to bring their competitive spirits and fast leg drive to this weekend’s races.

Boy’s Freshman Quad B
Mike, Nick, Liam, and Parker finished out their season with a solid showing in Sunday’s head races. They competed amongst 10 strong, freshman quads and finished their 1500 meters in 5:08.20. They concentrated on control and connection, and with those skills were able to beat out another freshman quad, finishing in 9th place.

Girl’s Junior Varsity Quad
Working with a new lineup, Becca, Rachel, Brie, and Sophia competed among some older JV quads in their head race. They came down the race course staying calm and controlled, and finished 8th out of 11. They finished their 1500 meter sprint in 5:38.08.

Boy’s Varsity Quad
The varsity quad headed to a straight final later Sunday afternoon. Joel, Ryan, Noah, and Dan W finished their sprint in 4:34.97. This group is one of 4 boats the crew club will see at SRAA’s. After a long and strenuous weekend. The boys have taken advantage of the little time they have to refocus their time and energy on the Scholastic Rowing Championship. They've been working hard to improve themselves and we look forward to a great performance this weekend.

Girl’s Varsity Double
Maddie and Lauren have both overcome injuries this season, and they showcased their strength and hard work at Sunday’s races. In their head race, the pair finished 4th out of 8, securing themselves a spot in the final. Senior Maddie was able to row the last spring race of her high school career in the final at City Championships. Together, this pair has seen much success. They were the only boat this fall to race in the prestigious Head of The Charles Regatta. During their final, the girls grabbed 3rd place, winning bronze medals!

Boy’s Freshman Quad A
Another successful day for freshman/novice rowers Dan M, Erik, Luke, and Paul. The foursome finished their head race with the second fastest time, 4:43.12, out of 9 other fast boats. They snagged silver medals in the afternoon’s final finishing with a time of 4:31.04! These boys are also gearing up for SRAA’s this weekend. They have had an awesome season together, placing in every medal race this spring.

Girl’s Novice Quad
Gold medals for the novice quad!! New lineup, Kara, Olivia E, Amanda, and Olivia H finally saw their hard work pay off by winning the City Championship gold. The pressure was on after they earned the fastest time overall in their head race against 9 other boats. Their final proved to be the race to watch as they finished just 0.09 seconds ahead of the 2nd place boat! Quite a nail-biter. These girls have worked so hard this season and we look forward to more success with their years to come.

Girl’s Lightweight Double
Another gold for the Hawks!! Noa and Angela, once again, finished ahead of the other boats in their category. In their head race, they had the first overall time of 5:26.41. In the final, they beat out 5 other tough competitors and earned themselves gold medals. The pair will also be competing at SRAA’s this weekend in Princeton. Undoubtedly they’ll continue to push themselves to have a better race than their last.

USRowing has partnered with the SRAA to provide live streaming via youtube.  Here is the press release with the link.

http://usrowing.org/News/14-02-18/USRowing_Partners_with_Scholastic_Rowing_Association_of_America.aspx

All boats not racing this weekend at Mercer Lake will be doing one last end-of-the-season 2K test TOMORROW 5/21. We've put a lot of work in the season on the ergs and water, and we expect everyone to be breaking PR's. Be ready to crush this piece! 

The hawks had a great weekend on the Schuylkill River. The team headed to Boathouse Row early Friday morning for the annual Stotesbury Regatta, the oldest and largest high school regatta across the world. They were greeted on Friday by over 5,000 competitors, all seeking to crush their time trails and move on to a semi-final or final. The team has been looking forward to this race more than most; it brings the most competition and prestige.


JV 2x: Colin & Matteo kick started the team’s weekend in the first time. They competed in the JV double category and fearlessly lined up against older and more experienced crews. The novice pair rowed a controlled race and finished 31st with a time of 7:22.24. Colin and Matteo have worked so hard this season. They showed up to every practice committed to becoming stronger and faster rowers. The coach’s couldn’t ask for two more eager and willing athletes, they are an awesome pair to work with and coach.

MF4x: Erik, Dan M, Luke, and Paul foreshadowed the day’s success by finishing 2nd in their time trail. They finished just behind first place in the head race and finished ahead of many of their Philadelphia school rivals. Their final time was 5:10.10 which sent them to a straight final which was held on Saturday afternoon. In the final, the novice quad lined up against many of their season’s rivals, Haverford, Conestoga, Malvern Prep, Roman Catholic, and the head race winner, Saratoga. The novice crew finished with an amazingly fast time of 4:25.74 and won the Stotesbury Gold! The boys were greeted by tons of admiring supporters as they rowed up to the medals dock and held up the Stotesbury Cup. This is the second ever Stotesbury Gold the Haddon Township Crew Club has won.

GF4x: Next up to compete in time trials were the freshman girls. Amanda, Olivia H, Sophia, and Olivia E competed against 15 other crews and finished 7th with a time of 6:15.35. The girls just missed the top 6 ticket to the straight final. They were 6.59 seconds away from 6th place which would have secured their seat in the final. However, the girls kept a positive attitude and immediately started preparing themselves for Sunday’s City Championship race. Impressively, they began reviewing the elements of their race that they needed to improve upon, and vowed to bring what they needed to the race on Sunday.

GLwt2x: Noa and Angela competed in their time trial early in the morning and finished 6th out of 20, securing their spot in the semi-final. As races continued to delay the girls set their sights on the prize. They concentrated more on crushing their semi to make it to the final, and less on getting themselves primped for prom! This fierce pair showed some major dedication to their team and the sport; they finished their semi-final and secured their spot in the final, and then headed off to prom. Angela and Noa’s final was held late Saturday evening and they came in 5th. The race started from the 1000 meter mark due to harsh water conditions; therefore the girls finished a quick race in 3:32.64.

GJr4x: Brie, Rachel, Kara, and Becca lined up for their time trial Friday afternoon and braved the downpour. They finished their 1500 meter race in 5:45.30. They managed to beat 10 boats, finishing 16th out of 26th. The girls fearlessly competed against some tough competition despite having two novice rowers among their lineup. This group has been a great bunch to coach; they encourage each other and manage to have fun in any situation.

MJr4x: Liam, Mike, Nick, and Parker competed in the JV quad category in Friday’s time trials. This group of novice boys competed in a tough category racing against some older crews. They boys held their own and finished in 25th place with a time of 5:23.59. They came down the racecourse swinging together and fit right in amongst the more experienced crews. This group worked hard all season competing against the other novice quad on HT’s team. They proved to be tough competition while piecing during practice. We look forward to what this group will bring next year.


GSr2x: Maddie and Lauren competed in the senior double and finished 11th in their time trail, placing them in the semi-final scheduled for Saturday morning. However, as conditions worsened from the down pours of Friday, Saturday’s semi’s were cancelled, knocking the pair out of the race to the final. The girl’s quickly focused their attention on Sunday’s City Championship.


MSr4x: The men’s quad had a strong time trial on Friday finishing 8th out of 24 boats. They flew down the racecourse with determination and finished the 1500 meter race in 5:26.01. This category called for the top 12 head racers to continue to the final; however, the boys also lost the chance to compete for their spot in the final due to harsh water conditions. Saturday morning’s semi’s were cancelled and the top 6 from time trials went right to the final. If given the chance, I’m sure we would have seen a vengeful showing from this group of four. The boys have grown tremendously this year, and the coaching staff is thankful to have all four athletes returning next year.


MSr1x: Joey competed in the team’s last head race on Friday afternoon in the men’s single. He looked powerful and strong coming down the racecourse at an impressively high rate. He snagged the 12th place spot during the time trial, which would have brought him to the semi-final had they not been cancelled. The top 6 from time trials in the men’s singles also went straight to the final.




We can’t thank the HT parents and supporters enough! They braved the rain on Friday and stuck it out all weekend to cheer on the team. The food tent was on top of its game this weekend! We loved the lasagnas, tacos, mac & cheese, salads, and countless other snacks and desserts. Thank you, parents, for providing the athletes with the fuel they needed for race day. And thank you to the Fanelli’s, once again, for safely transporting the trailer this weekend. We appreciate everything you do.

ALL MORNING RACES HAVE BEEN CANCELLED! A decision will be made at 11am about afternoon races. Please keep checking the blog as there is a chance all races today will be cancelled. 

Welcome to Stotes week!!!  For those of us that have been here before we know how crazy it can be and how much fun it is!  For those of us who are new to the experience, this is the big one...Be prepared for crazy traffic both on the roads and on the path.  Give yourself lots of extra time to get to the course.

We will have a normal practice schedule for Monday-Wednesday with varsity in the morning and novices in the afternoon.  On Thursday we will practice on the Schuylkill after school.  Each boat will go out for their row as soon as everyone from the boat arrives.  Please talk to a teammate if you need a ride.

Athlete drop off:  Our trailer will be in a different location this weekend.  The best location for you to drop kids off is where the Kelly Drive detour begins by the Three Angels/Grant Statue.  

Athletes: Arrive at the trailer 2 HOURS prior to your first race each day.  Bring sunscreen, a towel or chair to sit on, water, and a healthy snack.  You WILL NOT BE PERMITTED TO WALK BACK AND FORTH TO THE FOOD TENT BEFORE YOUR RACE.  Also...YOU WILL NOT BE ALLOWED TO WALK AROUND AND GO SHOPPING AT THE VENDOR TENTS WHILE YOU ARE STILL RACING.  You may be racing up to 3 times in 2 days.  It is typically a mile + between the trailer and tent and you may not notice it but it drains your energy.  

Parents:  Please make sure you leave extra time to get to the race, traffic is nuts.  We haven't had any problems this year but I want to remind everyone that the boat trailer is like our locker room.  Please stay away...no offense.  Lastly...I know it is prom on Friday.  If your son or daughter has a late race I will get them out as soon as possible when they get back to land.  The school has been notified that they are racing and may be a little late.

Remember...this is a fantastic experience for everyone involved.  There are 962 boats entered from 189 clubs around North America.  Lets have some fun!!!

Lineups:
MJr2x: Matteo/Colin
MF4x: Erik/Dan/Luke/Duff
GF4x: Olivia/Olivia/Sofia/Amanda
GLtwt2x: Ang/Noa
Mjr4x: Mike/Parker/Liam/Nick
GJr4x: Brie/Rachel/Becca/Kara
GSr2x: Maddie/Lauren
MSr2x: Keaton/Tyler
MSr4x: Joel/Springer/Dan/Noah
MSr1x: Joey
WSr1x: Mariana

Schedule:
Crew                                           Heat                                     Semi                                     Final
Mjr2x                                       Friday: 8:45                        Friday: 5:08                         Saturday: 1:40
MF4x:                                      Friday: 10:15                   Straight to final                      Saturday: 1:00
GF4x:                                      Friday: 10:25                   Straight to final                      Saturday: 1:10
GLtwt2x                                  Friday: 10:34                      Friday: 5:55                         Saturday: 2:20
MJr4x                                      Friday: 11:34                   Saturday: 8:30                       Saturday: 3:00
GJr4x                                      Friday: 11:46                   Saturday: 8:45                       Saturday: 3:10
GSr2x:                                    Friday: 1:07                      Saturday: 9:30                       Saturday: 4:00
MSr2x:                                    Friday: 1:17                      Saturday: 9:40                       Saturday: 4:10
MSr4x:                                   Friday: 2:07                      Saturday: 10:20                     Saturday: 4:50
MSr1x:                                    Friday: 2:17                     Saturday: 10:30                     Saturday: 5:00
GSr1x:                                    Friday: 2:34                     Saturday: 10:45                     Saturday: 5:10

Lets have a great weekend!!  City Championship schedule will be posted soon.
-Gregg