Racing got tighter on Thursday afternoon, and more than a few crews found their matches much more even, and their opponents less willing to go gently to the Enclosures.
Perhaps the most notable verdict of the afternoon was the defeat of the St Joe's Prep eight at the hands of Shrewsbury. The Prep trailed throughout, while Shrewsbury matched the best PE time of the day to the Barrier and Fawley. They did need the top time of the day overall to best the boys from Prep, but did so with three-quarters of a length to spare.
That leaves the Saints from St. Andrews to bear the cross, or perhaps privilege, of being the sole remaining US crew in the Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup. With a win over Monmouth School from Wales as the afternoon racing began today, they have secured a quarterfinal match in the PE, and US prep school bragging rights along the way.
St. Andrew's trains on the school's very own Noxonton Pond in Middletown, Delaware, and had one of the best years in the successful program's history, losing just barely to Kent School at home and being upset just as narrowly by St Alban's of Washington, DC, at the Stotesbury Cup. The Saints were one of the fastest two eights at the Youth Invitational as well this year, but ran afoul of the boat weighing scales and had to row the Petite Final instead of the Grand. Here at Henley, the crew has remained steady in their progress: Henley, after all, was the goal all along.
The Saints look to meet Hampton School who won in a mismatch with Pangbourne School today, very much "easily." The question remains how skilled Hampton School is when pressed by the likes of St. Andrews. The Saints are coached by 1988 Olympian Lindsay Brown, who teaches at the school, and Morgan Scoville is acting as assistant coach for this trip. More from this crew tomorrow on row2k.
Hart Perry is sadly missed here. The first Henley Steward from the United States, and a constant presence in the Enclosures with his wife Gill, Hart passed February 3, shortly after receiving the FISA Distinguished Service Award. The Kent School Alumni entry in the Thames Cup are rowing here in honor of Perry, a proud Kent School coach and administrator. The coach at Kent, Eric Houston (Kent '80), rowed for the school in the years when Perry was the coach as well. The connections were simply too strong and the timing too fleeting to pass up this opportunity to bring a crew to Henley.
In their contest today versus Broxbourne Rowing Club, the Kent School Alumni won by three lengths. They are young for a Thames entry: most are recent graduates and several rowed in the Princess Elizabeth final just last year in the Kent School crew that also swept the US Championship races, including Youth Nationals in Cincinnati. Two seat Traub and three seat Naylor were in that National Champion boat last year, and there are twin brothers who just finished their sophomore year at Cal: Christophe and Charles Caron-Marquis. Cox, bow and three now go to Trinity, while. Four seat Todd Gentry is not an alum, per se, but rather a Kent faculty member who rowed at Rutgers and has helped coach the team in recent weeks.
"We are not intimidated," said a confident Pat Knorring, coxswain. He missed out on Henley last year because he was too old for the PE races, but had been in the cox seat when they won Youth Nationals. This crew won both of their events at Reading going into Henley, so they do have some reason for their confidence.
"We had our best start yet," said Knorring about today's race, "We got about a length up and kept moving from there." After getting a comfortable lead, they pulled back a bit and lowered their rating so, although they led by as much as 4 lengths, they won by "just" three. Better to save some for tomorrow: their faculty member in four seat might need some rest. They face Upper Yarra Rowing Club, (AKA Melbourne University) tomorrow.
University of Virginia coach Frank Biller is spokesperson for the UVA club program's philosophy as much as their coach. When you ask him to provide observations about their rowing, he says they row like they normally do, and does not make a big fuss about race strategy, nutrition and rest, or the crew's comments after the race. "They are all adults, and they know what they have to do," says Biller, who minimizes his coach role a touch beyond what is probably reality.
"I saw that the conditions were difficult" he said, of his crew's one length win over Oxford Brookes. "There was a tailwind on one side and a current on the other. Their time to the barrier was slower, just an indication that the conditions are not as good," he added. "They just had to get the job done," he explains. 'They didn't have as much traction in the water, didn't move the boat the way they liked, but they did get it done."
His Virginia Cavaliers will face the University of London crew which dispatched Hobart tomorrow in the quarterfinals of the Temple. Of the eight. boats remaining in the Temple, four are US crews: Cal, Harvard, Virginia, and Yale.
In the last four races of the day, the Four Score and Four Rowing Club's composite boat of former Yale lights, mostly from 2006, lost to the Combined Services RC crew. The UK crew had a rough start ("messy" as one official said) and Four Score and Four RC were ahead until the 1/4 mile. Combined Services pulled it together enough to pass Four Score but the Yale alums remained in contact. The two crews battled it out within about 1/2 length of each other for most of the race, but Combined Services were able to press out to a full length at the finish.
The brothers Graves, Thomas and John, went from their singles to the double in the afternoon, and had a fight with a larger Chinese crew in their doubles sculls match. Liang and Fa of China were a good match in size for each other though and, while not always handling the choppy water beautifully, were able to pull off a win over the Graves boys, rowing as Craftsbury Sculling Center, by two lengths. That leaves Thomas in the Diamond Sculls tomorrow, while John has finished his Henley racing for 2011, after a grueling day of racing here.
The Harvard Prince Albert four comprised of 2V heavies won their race over Bath University near the end of racing. This was another comfortable race for Harvard, so they should be fresh tomorrow. That is auspicious, because as Harvard assistant coach Bill Manning told us, "Racing begins Friday at Henley."
Tomorrow is Friday. More reports then!
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06/30/2011 1:14:56 PM