First off: 'We Survived'

Thank you everyone for a great City Championship. We got through this crazy season and we survived. Congratulations to everyone!

- PSRA (@mannyflicks) May 22, 2022

Stotes-ing 'til dusk, three packed days of the biggest collegiate championship, and a rescheduled Philly Cities to boot...and that just gets us to this week's NCAA and SRAA regattas, with IRAs and Youth Nationals to follow.

Speaking of which:

Wellesley wins the NCAA...

Trailer race!

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Well done, Blue, and good luck the rest of the week.

So what did we all survive this past week that was? Well, we saw a lot of:

It's Close, Oh, Wait...

Folks on Reddit had a good time with the fact that there were a lot of not-quite-photo-finishes posted this weekend:

This is right up there with announcers forgetting about parallax and thinking that "THE NEAR LANE IS WALKING" all the time.

A Double Double Bucket

Uniform headgear, indeed.

'Wakeless' Launches

Nothing like being waked down by a wakeless launch that's throwing as much wash as a jon boat.

So, So, So Many Loose Coxboxes

And they just kept coming: loose in the lap, loose box and speedcoach, in the right hand, in the left hand, another left-hander, face-up, face covered, face covered by race plan printout, cradled in lap, and in lap, legs crossed (smart actually), whew!

Some Baseball

Sarasota Crew now looking to dominate Little League, too, apparently:

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Yep, definitely a "rowing world" first as far as we know.

And Some More Baseball

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Apparently Coach Peterson is always uses a "just like throwing a baseball" analogy, so the team got him a call-up from the bullpen to prove it. Swipe right to see how he did.

Also Getting Thrown? Well, You Know...

Coxswain toss season in full swing, pun intended:

Catch the full sequences here for the Villa Girls, the Wilson Boys, the Mount Girls, and the URI Men, our picks of the week.

And props to ACRA for having a designated splash zone:

Smart.

A Croc In Florida...

...But No Croc in Philly...

...Just Crocs

...And Paw Prints

Or is is a "Paw-dle"...

Other Hits from the Weekend:

The Joke Cup Goes to...

In one of the cooler traditions at the Men's Sprints, the winner of the top lightweight event that doesn't count towards the Jope Cup points has gotten the Joke Cup--it even gets a mention on Wikipedia.

For years, it went to the 3V, back when the Jope Cup counted the 1V, 2V and 1F. With the demise of the Frosh Eight, the 3V now scores those Jope points, so the 4V wins the Joke. Congrats to the Navy 4V:

Ukrainians At U19s..

... where they won medals, despite being dislocated and scattered across Europe to train since the invasion.

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They also won silver in the Junior Men's 8+.

Great gesture: Ukrainian athletes competing with caps from the German Rowing Federation, who are providing shelter and training material at their rowing centre in Hannover. #ERU19CH pic.twitter.com/9Z60nUjcfb

- World Rowing (@WorldRowing) May 22, 2022

...Meanwhile Aussie's U23s head to, um, New Jersey?

Sure saves on airfare.

This Does Not Look Quite Right

This Time Trial did not go as planned.

Rowers As Influencers

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Any takers?

The Return of the Tiny Microphone

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Nice tribute to their high schools coaches as Penn gets set the team's first NCAA Championship bid.

Ah, The Natl Championship of Photo Stealing

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Just one of many, as ACRA crews (and at least one Stotes school that can definitely afford to do better) took full advantage of row2k's generous and free coverage of their championships to screenshot and post watermarked photos without sending row2k a cent.

You wouldn't steal your boat or a set of oars, right? And if you can afford unis, matching hats, a trip to the regatta, and your entry fees, then you can afford $10 for a photo.

Coming up next week: the also annual Natl Championship of Invoicing, and heaps of emails that attempt to claim: "We didn't know any better."

And, Did She Really Bellyflop?

She sure did:

This was how this epic pic we ran in our Stotes coverage turned out--a perfect 10 for this Flop!

Rumors & Hearsay from the Week that Was

• Even George loses it when getting waked: there were some great photos this week of George Clooney in full "rowing coach waving hands in the air" mode about wakes disrupting his crews while filming "Boys in the Boat" on the Henley reach of the Thames. You can see them--and relate to a movie star--here
• The start line at Oak Ridge is getting troll-y: as recounted in row2k's ACRA coverage, crews are starting to get trolled with the music selections: For a Freshmen Eights heat? Madonna's "Like a Virgin." For The Varsity Men's Eight? Deniece Williams' "Let's Hear It for the Boy." Don't say we didn't warn you!
• Also from Tennessee, the locals are onto the whole coxswain thing: "Fella in the front there's not paddling. That's why you ain't goin no where!" Hard to argue the logic.
• LOC FTW: the Local Organizing Committee in Lowell stepped up big time when the registration line for Northeast Youths opened 30 minutes late. Nothing like waiting on line to register with the event 'owner' when racing starts in 35 minutes.

The row2k Top Results of the Week

• at the ACRA, GW Men's V8 and Grand Valley's Women's V8 won National Championsips -- full results with all the newest ACRA champions here
• the ACRA Points Trophies went to: Purdue (Overall), Michigan (Men's Team), Purdue (Women's Team), Rhode Island (Men's Small Boats), and Colorado (Women's Small Boats).
• heaps of NEIRA results this past weekend as schools wrapped up the regular season ahead of Saturday's 2022 Championship in Worcester.
• The Wilson Boys and the Mount St. Joe's Girls won the Senior Eights at the Stotes
• and one last round of Regional Champs in the Youth Eight from the weekend: the Greenwich Women and Men swept the golds at the Northeast Youth Championship, while the Green Lake Women and Bainbridge Island Men won at the Northwest Youth Championship.

Check out these items you may have missed this past week:

• The fields are set for NCAAs; racing starts Friday among these schools in D1, D2, and D3.
• the 5/21 edition of row2k's Best of Instagram: Boys in the Boat, McLovin, NCAA Selection celebrations and more.
• and the most read news link this past week? USRowing Announces 2022 Under 23 National Team Selection Camp Invitations