As you have probably noticed, the site has recently undergone a few changes.

• Upgraded the site’s WordPress backend. This has a bunch of new features and should make the site more secure.
• Activated a new theme. This is a port of Andreas07, originally by Andreas Viklund, done by David Peralty. I’ve modified most of the code and CSS into the current design.
• As with any migration, there’s a few links and styles that are broken–I’ll be fixing these as I come across them.
• The CSS and HTML used are now fully W3C validated. In non-nerd speak, this tune-up to the code will decrease the chance of improper page rendering. However, to to ensure proper viewing, you must use a browser that is fully CSS 2.1 compliant, such as Mozilla Firefox 3, Google Chrome 2, Safari 4 or Internet Explorer 8.

I will be implementing a new photo gallery engine later this week. This will allow users to upload photos to Flickr and have them automatically appear in the photo galleries below posts. Check back soon to see it in action.

The Exeter girls first boat finished second this weekend at the USRowing Youth National Championship regatta at Harsha Lake outside of Cincinatti, Ohio. This impressive silver-medal finish at the country’s most competitive youth regatta culminates a tremendous season for the girls first boat.

The 2000 meter regatta is organized as a double-elimination semifinal wherein a given boat has two chances to get a spot in the semifinal races. The exact setup depends on the number of entries in the event. For the girls eight event, all twenty-three entries initially rowed in one of four heats on Friday. Exeter finished second to Marin Rowing Association in 6:59.95. All twelve crews that finished in the top three qualified directly for a slot in one of the three Saturday afternoon semifinals; the remaining eleven went on to race in one of the two Saturday morning repechage heats. In these intermediate races, the top three boats also earn slots in the afternoon semifinals. In the semifinals, Exeter finished second to Maritime Rowing Club in 6:53.10. The top two crews from each semifinal go to Sunday’s grand final, the middle two crews go to the petite final and the bottom two crews go to the C-final. In the grand final, Exeter finished second to Marin in 6:45.05.

This silver-medal finish represents the highest attainment at the national level for an Exeter girls boat in thirty-six years since the start of the program in 1973. It also ties the record for the highest attainment at the national level for any NEIRA girls crew ever. Even more remarkably, such success comes after twelve of eighteen members of the varsity squad graduated in 2008.

A big congratulations to all rowers, coxswains and coaches for their tremendous finish to the season.

Six Exeter crews returned to Lake Quinsigamond in Worcester, MA today to race for medals at the 63rd annual New England Interscholastic Rowing Association (NEIRA) Championship.  The girls squad amazingly repeated last year’s sweep of the competition by taking gold in the first, second and third varsity eight grand finals.  This is the fourth time in NEIRA history that a girls squad has swept the competition (St. Paul’s in 1979, Exeter in 1994, Exeter in 2008).  These wins come amidst significant turnover on the girls squad–nearly three-quarters of last year’s varsity girls graduated.  On the boys side, the first boat was edged out of the grand finals by three seats in the morning heats, easily finishing first in the petite final that afternoon.  The second boat fell 0.288 seconds (around 6 feet) short of a bronze medal in its grand final, and the third boat finished sixth in its grand final.  Full results:

G1	Grand	G2	Grand	G3	Grand
Exeter	5:09.157	Exeter	5:25.963	Exeter	5:34.372
Andover	5:12.929	Andover	5:27.050	Hanover	5:38.541
Tabor	5:17.632	Kent	5:33.603	Kent	5:38.871
Kent	5:17.892	Hanover	5:37.519	St. Paul’s	5:41.131
St. Paul’s	5:27.481	St. Paul’s	5:42.879	Andover	5:42.843
Simsbury	5:28.272	Tabor	5:49.858	Simsbury	6:05.879
B1	Petite	B2	Grand	B3	Grand
Exeter	4:52.825	Andover	4:43.404	Kent	4:51.523
NMH	4:56.995	Kent	4:43.845	Andover	4:52.732
St. John’s	5:00.742	Salisbury	4:48.915	Salisbury	4:52.734
Hanover	5:01.002	Exeter	4:49.203	St. John’s	5:07.379
Hingham	5:01.532	Brunswick	4:55.042	Hanover	5:08.133
Middletown	5:11.948	St. Paul’s	5:00.575	Exeter	5:15.014

More information to come!

Race Photos