The New England Interscholastic Rowing Association (NEIRA) Championships marks the last spring regatta at Lake Quinsigamond as well as the end of the prep school rowing season (a handful of NEIRA Schools are public schools that have another separate championships later). For some of the kids, it's the last race of their high school rowing careers, while for others it's the first big athletic event in which they have ever competed. The Independent School League (ISL), which many of the teams are a part of, does not have a competitive fall season, so many of the younger rowers at the regatta started learning to row just a few short weeks ago. It can be fun to think about which of these athletes who learned to hold an oar this past March will be continuing their rowing careers long into the future – these young teenagers will be at the height of their athletic ability for the 2020 and 2024 Olympics…
It was a breezy, cool and sunny day in Worcester; some commented that it was reminiscent of a fall day, with the warmth of the sun cutting through the cross-tailwind on the course. While the wind was not strong enough to impede racing, it did make it a bit more difficult for the younger coxswains to navigate the stake boats.
The regatta is divided by boat class – boys and girls eights, and boys and girls fours – with the important distinction that the eights schools only row eights, and the fours schools only row fours. There's also no cox toss off the awards dock at NEIRAs because of the back-to-back finals all afternoon, though row2k did catch a few tosses and jumps into the lake after the racing was over – sometimes it's only way to end a championship day.
Kent
Kent School isn't just a school with rowing - it's been through and through a rowing school from its first days when Kent founder and first headmaster Father Sill created the rowing program and acted as the school's first rowing coach. Coming into NEIRA, Kent was seeded first in five of six events – all except the boys third boat (in which Boston College High School was the number one seed). During the morning heats, all the Kent crews finished first and brought the momentum into their finals.
"In the morning of NEIRA the league showed off its speed with some very tight racing in two out of the three heats," said head boys coach Eric Houston. "It was difficult for so many fast crews to even make it out of the heats in the morning. Once the heats sorted themselves out we knew the finals would be a barn burner!"
After proving themselves in the heats, Kent went on to medal in five of its six entries – gold medals for the boys first and second eights as well as the girls second and third eights, and a silver medal for the girls first eight. For both the girls and boys teams, the results added up to a double points trophy win – the first time both teams have won the points in the same year.
"The girls have worked very hard and had a great deal of success throughout the season and the NEIRA results were the culmination of all that hard work," said head girls coach Garrison Smith.
The result was more than exciting for the crews who faced tough competition and tight margins all day. The girls second eight was an especially heart-stopping race as they crossed the finish line almost dead-even with Andover – but later learned they won by .281 seconds.
"We figured out that we won a minute after the race," said rower Elizabeth Reed.
"But it felt like a lifetime," added her boat mate Tara Federow.
As the Kent crews approached the medals dock over and over, there was someone else who was celebrating with the Kent athletes, a person who has been a part of the Kent rowing family for many years: Gill Perry. Her late husband Hart Perry was a longtime Kent rowing coach, and an influential and extremely effective figure in American rowing. This year, Gill had the honor of placing medals around the necks of two of her grandchildren - cousins Stewart Sykes, who was stroking the boys second varsity eight (he just started rowing in March!) and Lexi Mills, two seat in the Kent girls third varsity eight. For Stewart, the race was extra special as he raced in a boat named after his grandfather.
"It was really special to race in that boat, especially since I got the medal from my grandmother; and it was the Tote Walker [second ever rowing coach at Kent] Cup so that also has a Kent connection," said Stewart.
Deerfield
Kent wasn't the only school to take home double the hardware; for the second year in a row the Deerfield girls and boys first fours both captured the gold in the fours.
"Last year was the first time the girls had ever won it," said head girls coach Eve Goldenberg. "We had a will this year – they just wanted to keep racing and winning."
Elated, the girls hopped out of the shell to greet Coach Goldenberg with hugs and whoops of excitement. What they didn't realize as they crossed the finish line was that they were also the first ever recipients of the Allen/Hoffman Award for Consecutive First Boat Wins in the Girls Four ¬- yep, that's a real award (and some great motivation to keep winning!). The history of the award is unclear, but Gill Perry said it's been in her basement for a number of years, waiting to be presented.
And while the boys didn't have a shiny plate to commemorate the second consecutive win, they still had much to celebrate. The winning crew only had one returning athlete from last year's winning boat, and the guys are looking forward to more wins at Deerfield.
"We had some young guys in there, and some new guys in there; the culture of the team is just really solid right now," said head boys coach Spencer Washburn. "The first boat lost a close race to Belmont Hill at the Wayland-Weston Invite - that was the only one they lost all season. Overall the team is really young; the future looks exciting."
Winsor
Despite the impressive repeat performance from the Deerfield teams, the points trophies for the fours schools went to the Winsor girls and Groton boys.
With second place finishes in the first, third and fourth fours, and a win in the second four, Winsor captured their sixth points trophy win in eight years – this award is really a focus for the team.
"Ever since our program has been framed around the team trophy it's been a really enjoyable life at the boathouse," said Winsor head coach Lisa Stone.
"Everyone wants to win the first boat, but all I can say is my first boat has no seniors except for the coxswain and the second boat only has one senior."
What they will remember is the camaraderie. It's nice to have the hardware – and they all got hardware together which is good, but they're a happy group. It's an absolute joy," she added.
Groton
After landing on the awards dock after each of their races – gold in the third and fourth fours, and bronze for the first and second fours – the Groton boys earned the points trophy, which they had most recently won in 2011 and 2012.
"Across all four boats, from the first to the fourth, the competition was tough as ever, especially in the finals," said Groton head coach Charlie Hamlin. "It was the combined effort of all four crews that made it just possible to squeak by last year's champions, Belmont Hill, to win the points trophy."
Some of these athletes will continue to train for Henley or Youth Nationals this summer – a chance to gain more experience racing – but many wrapped up their season at NEIRA. Though the spring racing season is now closed out at Quinsigamond, you can be assured that it's on the mind of the athletes who competed there all season – whether it's training for a repeat win or to redeem a loss – the results left on the lake will fuel the fire for months to come.
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