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

Photos from the Christening of the M. Catherine Gilmartin on 5/17/2008. Courtesy of Luke Thoms ’08.

Twelve Exeter crews traveled to Andover yesterday to race Phillips Academy Andover and Tabor on the Merrimack River. Despite the long standing competitive spirit between Exeter and Andover, weather conditions proved to be an even greater foe on the water: strong current and a gusting headwind slowed race times by 60 seconds compared to the Kent dual meet two weeks ago. Nevertheless, the girls first through fourth boats pulled through to comfortably sweep the competition for the fourth consecutive Saturday. Unfortunately, the girls fifth and sixth boat races were canceled due to worsening conditions. On the boys side, the first boat beat Andover by 0.4 seconds, though the second and third boats could not keep up with Andover. The fourth, fifth and sixth boys eights also managed to pass the competition and despite the chop. Full results:

G1		G2		G3		G4		G5/G6
Exeter	6:08.5	Exeter	6:08	Exeter	6:21	Exeter	7:04	Canceled
Andover	6:18.6	Andover	6:20	Andover	6:32	Andover	7:25
Tabor	6:45.7	Tabor	6:34	Tabor	6:45	Tabor	7:44
B1		B2		B3		B4		B5/B6
Exeter	5:22.5	Andover	5:44.8	Andover	5:43.2	Exeter	5:51.2	Exeter 6	6:35.1
Andover	5:22.9	Exeter	5:53.5	Exeter	5:43.6	Andover	5:53.9	Exeter 5	6:47.5
Tabor	5:57.1	Tabor	6:21.2	Tabor	6:10.9	Tabor	6:08.8	Tabor	7:04.5
								Andover	7:30.5

Boys co-captain Ian Winthrop ’08 said “All the way down the racecourse we got battered by waves and wind gusts–we might have a couple good strokes until the boat hit some rough water and we’d lose our momentum.” Despite the weather, Winthrop felt there were some bright spots to the race: “Before we hit the worst water, we managed to settle into a really solid rhythm right around the 300 [meter] mark, instead of the 900 where we really picked up speed in the first few races.” Though the first boat pulled a length ahead of Andover in the middle 500, Andover made an impressive move in the sprint. “They walked on us in the last stretch of the race, it was really close at the end,” Winthrop remarked. The first boat, which changed its lineup late this week due to an illness, is undefeated heading into its last dual race this weekend against St. Paul’s School.

Girls co-captain Allison Courtin ’08 said “It was a hard race to tell how well we rowed. Any stroke where we had all eight blades catch at once was a small victory. We also had to abandon our race plan since the conditions were so unpredictable. Instead of longer power 10s and 20s, we did more bursts of power to keep focus in the boat.” This is the fourth consecutive sweep by girls first through fourth boats–an impressive feat that might be a first in the program’s history. They head into their last dual meet versus St. Paul’s School totally undefeated.

Next weekend, all twelve crews will travel to Concord, NH to race St. Paul’s School on their home racecourse. This will be the last race of the season for the 4th, 5th and 6th boats on both the girls and boys squads. The 1st, 2nd and 3rd boats will race for medals the following Saturday, May 24, at the New England Interscholastic Rowing Association (NEIRA) Championship Regatta in Worcester, MA.

Photos added, courtesy of Towny Manfull and Diana Davis.

Race Photos