"Mens sana in corpore sano" - "a healthy mind in a healthy body" - is a philosophy that is part of the education of the young men at St. Joseph's Preparatory School in Philadelphia, PA USA. The boys that fill the seats in the Eight in the Prince Elizabeth Challenge Cup have lived up to at least the latter part of that standard for the entire season at the Prep, as they won race after race on the east coast of the US. The team did a double in big championship races this spring, winning both the Stotesbury Cup on their home course, then kicked it up a notch and won at the Scholastic Nationals in Saratoga Springs, NY two weeks later. They have had 4 more weeks to train since then, and it has been a run with a little change in the boat to challenge their focus.
Coach Jim Glavin likes what he sees early at the racing in Henley. The squad made a small adjustment in personnel, swapping former 2-man Brendan Adams, who had gone early to fulfill his commitment to the Naval Academy, with a former starboard rower Zac Munsell, who had done some sculling during the season and had skills on both sides of the boat. This change made it so they crew had to regain their swing and attain that championship feel again. Standing by Glavin as the crew rowed past the regatta enclosure, he seemed a little concerned about how hard their opposition, Canford School, was pressing into the last 3/4 mile of the race, and equally concerned his own crew needed to respond. "They followed the race plan, they were rowing nicely..." After the race, he told them they'd have some pretty tough racing from now on, "but now they know they can execute a race plan here at Henley." The guys have never been fast off the start, and although they have been working on that part of the race, they still are a mid-race crew that gets in the groove and doesn't let up. It works well for these longer races.
"They are strong pound for pound, but our stroke and our 2-seat are some of our smaller guys," explains Glavin. They are not a massive crew, but have a style that Glavin has been fostering all season to adapt to this.
"We host Abingdon School at the Head of the Schuylkill, so we have an exchange with them for here at the Henley," says Glavin. "We had done some nice practice pieces with them on Monday too," he adds. The St. Joe's team will be heading out to dinner at the Spanish restaurant in town tonight--then to Abingdon to sleep off that middle mile.
When the Stewards were executing the Draw on Friday, it is rumored that there was a slight giggling/murmur when USC and Harvard were paired. It seemed that club team USC was facing an Ivy giant. Could the club team from Western USA really stand up to the long-established dominance of the Crimson on the East Coast? As the race panned out, it appeared they could not. Harvard pulled away, boat length by boat length and rowing well, with USC not quite matching the length per stroke. The only US v US race of Henley Wednesday never turned into a battle, and Harvard advances to race Exeter tomorrow at 5:00 pm. Hopefully USC can regroup and enjoy the Henley scene.
In the Prince Albert fours race, Yale University had a more challenging move into the next round, with a solid Oxford Brookes University "A" boat ahead early on. Yale rowed through the Oxford Brookes boat at the regatta enclosure, but they did not have an easy go. They face Newcastle tomorrow.
Similarly Georgetown University freshman in the Prince Albert Cup had a hard fight, even with their one and a half length victory over Lady Margaret Boat Club, it was a finish that likely created some lactate. Here's the kicker: after that hard race, they face Harvard tomorrow.
Grand Valley State University had a loss earlier in the day in the Prince Albert, but Coach John Bancheri knew they had rowed well (against a Goldie crew), and also knew he had a fast crew going down the course later in the day in the Temple Challenge Cup. After a seat shift as two of his rowers left for internships in Jordan and Detroit ('I think Jordan is safer." he quips), he replaced them with "super seniors" in the stern pair. His previous stroke is now 2 seat, "he is like a metronome" he says, but it seems the current stroke can deliver on the power also, and this was a big test. The crew of Halley Dorsey, Geoff Sadek, Mark McIlduff, Jeff Slater, Breck Davis, Chad Condon, Jimmy Wilken, Mike Stoll and Scott Feill have had several more weeks to train since their Dad Vail appearance, and "a lot can happen in 6 weeks," says Bancheri.
It seems a lot happened. They won their early heat here rowing lower and longer than their opposition in the Temple, Durham University, with Coach Bancheri struggling to keep quiet in the Umpire's launch. Overall, he is pleased how the seat changes, made as late as last week, resulted in a fast crew. "We shuffled the deck, and came up with a royal flush!"
More racing, more interviews, more fun from the course tomorrow. Even so, I don't know if row2k will have as much fun as the young ladies going by on a long boat dancing on the deck to the "Dancing Queen" by ABBA. Is it possible to have that much fun at a regatta? At Henley, yes.
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