Another day, another 2k. That is the vibe on Sunday at the Bill Braxton Memorial Regatta each year, as it follows on the heels of Saturday's Philadelphia Frostbite and offers another chance to end the fall season with some solid 2k racing right before winter training hits.

Some teams make a weekend out of the two regattas at Mercer, of course, and row2k caught up with two clubs, the D.C. National women and the Mercer men, that followed their Frostbite wins by doubling up on Sunday to sweep the Braxton's varsity four and eight finals. We also talked to another batch of novices--in the Maritime quads--getting their first chance to race a 2k at the Braxton.

DC National Women Step Up to Sweep

The women from D.C. National notched another win on Sunday in the varsity eight to go along with the flight they won on Saturday, and added the varsity four to the menu for good measure--and extra racing experience. They took the win in the four as well.

D.C. National's Varsity Four

"Our girls squad had a tough finish last spring, and we’ve since focused on channeling that disappointment into growth," said head coach Julian Canha.

"On Sunday, the ten athletes who have been in our varsity eight took on the new challenge of racing four 2ks in one day. I’m proud of how they stepped up and am hopeful for a strong winter and spring."

"Our races went really well," said Nikhita Mandapaka, who coxed both the eight and four. "It was definitely a new experience prepping to race the fours and the eight which would require four 2k races over six hours. The most important thing for the girls was to balance conserving as much energy as possible with winning every race.

"In the heats and even in the four’s final, we aimed to go out hard and hold our position rather than go all out and sprint for every race. This way, the girls had as much energy left as possible for our eight final.

"Even with all of that strategizing, the day was incredibly physically taxing and a true testament to the girls’ strength and preparation," said Mandapaka. "They really dug deep to pull out an amazing win in both finals. I know every single one of the 10 girls who double raced gave everything on Sunday, and even I lost my voice after coxing, and we’re looking forward to a strong spring season."

"If you’ve never done it before, racing four times in one day is a crazy experience," said rower Bella Pulciani. "It’s one of those things that is even worse than it sounds when you’re actually doing it, but somehow, when it’s over you’re glad to have done it.

"In the heat in the eight, I think we went into it expecting a much easier race. Off the start we were able to get ahead pretty quickly but Mercer really held us the whole race. This is one of the interesting contrasts between a head race and a sprint: how other boats perform in a sprint can really affect your mindset and your boat speed.

"So, instead of focusing on ourselves, we were very panicked which sacrificed our technique and this hurt us because, when you race four times, you need to try to exert yourself as little as possible, and having perfect technique can be a really big asset in achieving that."

D.C. National's Varsity Eight

Pulciani said the way that heat unfolded was an important lesson going into the final.

"The whole race during the final I was saying to myself, 'Don’t look out of the boat or we’re going to immediately lose.' Keeping my head in it and staying calm is what helped us win the final with more than double the margin of the heat.

"This race, our fourth race, was arguably the hardest race but also the most rewarding. There’s something so satisfying about walking up on a boat one seat at a time, eventually clearing them, and the feeling of knowing you’re going to win; it immediately gives you what you need to be pushed into a new gear."

In addition to the success of the varsity women in the eight and four, Coach Canha also talked about the benefits of getting his novices out to race side-by-side this weekend thanks to the format of both the Braxton and Saturday's Frostbite.

"As great as time trials racing is, we know that racing side by side is more fun," he said. "And of course the big races in the spring are side by side so the race is a fun look forward to spring. The novices in particular like being able to see their opponents."

The full weekend of side-by-side experience paid off for D.C. National's novice men: they collected a win in their flight on Sunday to cap off their fall.

D.C. National's Novice Men's Eight

Mercer Men Max Their Reps, Win 8 and 4

The Mercer junior men won both the eight and four on Sunday, adding the victories to the flight wins they picked up in both during Saturday's Frostbite racing.

Racing both events each day, plus the Braxton heats/finals progression for the varsity eights and fours, made it a 6x2k weekend on the home lake for the top athletes at Mercer, who used the reps to work on their 2k racing ahead the winter.

"This is one of the weekends where you have the most racing of the entire year," said Charles Huckel, who stroked the eight and the four. "It's a good sneak peek into the spring season. It's also one last fun weekend before the winter season and we're on the erg full time.

Huckel, one of Mercer's three team captains along with bow man Quentin Touzot and coxswain Rhea Kaycee, said the key to winning this weekend was being efficient as well as fast.

"It's about paying attention to how you use your energy, in the fours and the eight, and finding that ultimate speed. Obviously, you're never going to have that perfect, there's so many tiny things you could tweak and fix, but you have to figure out how to make the boat move as well as possible, especially when you're racing 8k's worth of 2k's that day."

The eight has been a focus for Mercer all fall again this year. They took fourth at the Charles, posting the second fastest time amongst the American crews they hope to see again at Youth Nationals.

"We practice the eight mainly, but with that comes all the practices in the four and the pairs, all the unseen work that goes in behind the scenes to make that perfect eight," said Huckel. "Over the fall, coach Jamie [Hamp] and all the other coaches at Mercer have done a great job of filtering that in and out. So we haven't done every single day in the eight, it's always been a little mix. We started off with a lot of pairs, then transferred into fours, and then finally, once we hit the eight, we were rowing pretty well. It's a really good group of guys that came together, which is why we're seeing the success that we are, especially at the Head of the Charles."

Kaycee, who coxed both boats at the Braxton and the eight at the Charles, said that the key to the eight's success is its focus inside the gunnels.

"Something we've really worked on the whole season, but specifically for this race was having an internal rhythm," she said. "More than focusing on the boats around us and what they're going to do, we just focused on what would make our boat fastest. When you start to fixate on what the other boats are doing, it can start to make the boat a little bit flustered. So one of the main things we worked on this weekend was really just focusing on our piece. What can we do every stroke to make our boat move better?"

Touzot, who has held down the bow seat all fall, has seen the progress the crew has made.

"From bow, I can always see all the oars, and honestly, from the beginning of the season, we've improved so much. The starboard side used to be a little of out of sync. In the beginning, everyone would square at different times, everyone would get their blade buried at different times. Of course, it's still not perfect, but it's way better than it was before. And even though we have found a really good group of guys, we're still constantly changing and constantly seat racing to see find that perfect combination. Everyone who raced this weekend was awesome, and I think we've really come a long way in the in the 1V eight."

Of course, part of the work this weekend for Mercer, and half of the races, was in the four, and Touzot talked about how he approaches the smaller boat differently.

"The four is really a test of endurance. The eight is really about flow, and then in the four you only have four guys, so every little thing that you can do with your technique is compounded. It's even more important to have that technical focus in the four, especially if we want to make the most out of our energy for the day when we have four entire races to go through. That was one of the things that I was focusing on in the four, trying to keep the boat as set as possible, and keep the rhythm as good as it could be, so that we can maximize the amount of watts we get for the energy that we use."

Mercer's men in the four

The switch back to 2ks, after a fall focused on head racing, required a different approach, according to Kaycee in the coxing seat.

"I like to think of myself as more of a sprint coxswain and personally I love 2ks, the thrill of the start line and just seeing all the boats across," she said. "In head racing, we focused a lot on staying internal. That was our main focus and we definitely want to keep that for the 2ks. But it's also nice to see where you are compared to the other boats and it can be a little bit more motivating to really want to push through everyone. So I think this weekend was a nice way to end the season and give us a glimpse of what the spring will look like.

"In the 2ks, it's a lot more focused on when are we going to move? How are we going to do it? And how is it going to impact our race? So switching to the 2k, it's a lot more focused on knowing exactly when to move and just really keeping an eye across the field, knowing when's that perfect time, when are we gaining momentum and when will we be able to walk through these boats? That's really the switch in mentality, focusing on those different things."

"Rhea's been doing an awesome job calling the moves, and they've been working," added Huckel, who also talked about the change in mindset for 2k racing, but pointed out that the same focus they used for head racing still applies.

"It's definitely a whole different ballgame, comparing the 2k to the head races, in the sense that it's all happening right beside you in a 2k, and it's not as much you and yourselves trying to get a certain time. It's you and six other boats across fighting for that and you can see where they're at. That's when the internal aspect comes in. Coach Jamie preaches 'control the controllables,' and that's something that we live by. The night before Head of the Charles that was our main speech. Control what you can control, and that transfers over to the 2k season."

Touzot agreed.

"When you 2k, the biggest difference is that you can see when you're winning and you can see when you're losing. During the race, Rhea helped with that, so we were staying focused on ourselves. But a lot of times, it's way more difficult on a 2k than a 6k. Because you can see how you're doing in comparison to the other boats, sometimes that can get in your head. But this season, especially because we focused on being internal, when we switched that on, it helped a lot."

"This week, we did a much better job at really staying on our rhythm," added Huckel. "There's six other boats in your race, and they're all trying to win. You're trying to win. So just seeing the boats all around you, and staying in your zone, in your sphere as coach Jamie says, that's probably the most important thing. That's what we did really well this weekend, especially in the final yesterday of the Bill Braxton, and I think that's why we succeeded."

Maritime Novices Sweep Quad Races

Maritime Rowing Club, who just raced their top 12 varsity men on Saturday, brought the whole team to bear on Sunday for the Braxton, to include their novice quads, who combined to sweep the high school novice quad event.

The regatta was the first chance to do some official racing for some of the newest Maritime athletes, including Sarah Horton, bow seat of the winning women's novice quad.

"As a novice, I was very nervous for my first regatta, but in retrospect I had the best possible outcome," said Horton, whose boat won ahead of Pegasus Rowing Club from Berwyn and a second Maritime quad which finished third.

Maritime "A" Novice Women

"There was a great deal of excitement in the air in general," Horton said, "but more specifically, I felt lucky to be surrounded by such supportive and positive teammates and coaches. Our race along with all the other events ran smoothly. Everything was highly organized, and it didn't hurt that my boat won our race! My teammates and I had the opportunity to speak with the family of Bill Braxton. They were so kind and welcoming and I look forward to seeing them next year."

Horton's teammate in the winning quad, Ella Binder talked about the work she and her teammates put in during their first fall in the sport.

"At MRC, we worked really hard to be at this regatta," Binder said. "Respecting each other and the other teams is what makes us come out as winners. Thanks to our efforts and our teamwork, the race felt smooth and strong."

All smiles after first race, and win

Maritime's novice men came in force: the club fielded five quads in the men's high school novice event, in addition to a pair of doubles and two novice fours that doubled into an eight. All of that on the men's side was in addition to the six quads Maritime entered in the varsity quad races and their JV crews.

"Having depth on the team is extremely important to the Maritime Rowing Club," said head coach Yan Vengerovskiy. "Training and technical coaching is fundamental on all levels including novice crews. This weekend's performance by all our crews solidifies this."

That depth helped Maritime win both flights of the novice men's quad.

"Our race went exceptionally well today," said Chase Hasan, the bow seat of the "A" quad in flight one. "Our boat really came together and showed great perseverance to secure the win.

Maritime's "A" Novice Men

"For me it's not about the victory but about giving your absolute best, especially when others-- like our coaches, teammates, or even family--are counting on you. I'm incredibly proud of everyone in our boat; I truly believe we couldn't have done any better, and gave it everything we had. I want to thank our coaches for this incredible opportunity. I'm thrilled to have been part of it."

In the second flight, Maritime B took the matching win, with Luke Dart-Miller rowing bow.

""Our race went well, owing in no small part to the huge level of teamwork between the members of the boat and the Maritime Boat Club," Dart-Miller said. "Everyone came together to help each other on land and on the water, and I couldn't ask for a better boat. I'm so proud of everyone and elated that I had the chance to race on the beautiful Mercer Lake."

Maritime's "B" Novice Men