All twelve Exeter crews traveled to Hanover, New Hampshire today to race St. Paul’s School and Concord High School in the last meet of the regular season. Despite a close loss by the girls first boat, the second through fifth eights cruised to wins over both St. Paul’s and Concord. On the boys side, the boys first boat continued their undefeated season, followed by strong wins from the second boat through the sixth eight. Full results:

G1		G2		G3		G4		G5/G6
St. Paul’s	5:20.7	Exeter	5:24.3	Exeter	5:53.8	Exeter	5:57.9	Exeter 5	3:54.5
Exeter	5:22.2	St. Paul’s	5:27.5	St. Paul’s	6:05.6	St. Paul’s	6:09.8	St. Paul’s	4:19.9
Concord	6:00.1	Concord	6:00.3	Concord	6:38.4			Exeter 6	4:21.7
								Concord	4:24.4
B1		B2		B3/B4		B5/B6
Exeter	4:46.2	Exeter	4:59.7	Exeter 3	5:07.6	Exeter 5	5:36.7
St. Paul’s	5:03.4	St. Paul’s	5:16.0	Exeter 4	5:15.5	Exeter 6	5:42.7
Concord	5:07.2	Concord	5:43.2	St. Paul’s	5:20.9	St. Paul’s	5:51.2
				Concord	5:51.8

Conditions at Turkey Pond were generally good for racing: sunny skies, temperatures in the mid to upper 60s, and a moderate headwind that tapered off as races progressed. The B1 and G2 races were delayed after both boats lost skegs in their warmups after hitting submerged logs.

Boys co-captain Ian Winthrop ’08 said, “After having a bumpy race at Hanover and Andover, we wanted to have a good strong race that we could feel good about going into Interschols. After we pulled a half length of open water ahead at the 500 [meter] mark, instead of spinning our wheels down the racecourse, we took the stroke rating down, and didn’t even sprint.” Looking ahead to the last week of practices before NEIRAs, Winthrop noted “We’ve made a lot of lineup changes but we’re finally getting comfortable. We still need to work a bit on bladework.” Regarding the lower boats on the boys side, “It’s really good to finally see some more wins on the guys side, especially from the second boat. We’re glad to know there’s more depth.” Looking ahead to next weekend’s season finale, Winthrop said “We’re all really pumped–ready to push it to the limit at NEIRAs.”

Girls co-captain Allison Courtin ’08 said, “We were jumped on the start by a good half length, but didn’t counter well enough. We were slowly taking seats back until we were even at 500 to go, but [St. Paul’s] starting sprinting early, getting a good half length in the six or seven strokes until we sprinted. All in all, we have work to do this last week.” This work includes possible “lineup changes, or adjustments to the race plan.” Despite the close loss by the girls first boat, the second boat managed to come out 3.2 seconds ahead of St. Paul’s in a hard fought race. The third, fourth and fifth boats all cruised to comfortable wins to end their season over St. Paul’s and Concord. For the top three boats who are looking ahead to next weekend, Courtin said “Today’s race has by no means have deterred us from what we’re trying to do–the focus all season long is the NEIRA.”

The boys and girls fourth, fifth and sixth eights ended their season at St. Paul’s today–a big congratulations to them. The first, second and third eights will race for medals next weekend at the New England Interscholastic Rowing Association (NEIRA) Championship Regatta at Lake Quinsigamond in Worcester, MA. Additional information, including seedings, lane assignments, and heat times, will be posted later this week.

Photos from today’s races have been added. A reminder: these web-friendly photos are only a small number (213/871) of lower-quality (1/3 resolution) versions of the original photos–please contact me for hi-res copies suitable for cropping, printing, etc.

Race Photos