Last weekend, May 20-21, 2011, the Jesuit crew team voyaged to Philadelphia for the 85th annual Stotesbury Cup Regatta. Teams from the top scholastic high schools in the U.S. and Canada competed for first place over the weekend.
Placing higher than they ever have at the Stotesbury, Jesuit’s varsity placed 7th out of 35 teams, twelve places better than last year. Keeping in mind the motto “Always train like you’re going to race,” Jesuit’s lightweight team placed 10th overall out of 19, and the freshman team finished 24th out of 39 boats.
What helped the team do so well, head coach John Fife said, was “the incredible work ethic and high level of training in the winter and spring.” Luke Uetrecht ’13 seconded that notion, saying, “Practicing hard was pretty much vital to our team’s success, and we drastically improved from January to May.”
Patrick Bradshaw ’12 shared his thoughts on the progress of the team this year, stating, “Practice, especially that following the arrival of Coach Fife, our new coach, midway through our winter training, has reflected a renewed vigor in the sport to train harder and harder so that we can be nationally competitive and win more races.”
According to one of the team captains, Andy Hooker ’11, “This race is the biggest high school regatta in the world, so it’s definitely more well-known than others.” Because it was such a huge event, races were much larger, which Hooker described: “Instead of about 4 or 5 boats to compete against, there were roughly 35 boats per race to compete with, so it was much more intense.”
The other captain, John Bacic ’11, lauded the team’s effort, saying, “It was the race where the team really showed everyone what they can do in comparison to the top schools in the country, and I think it was a very successful way to end our season.”
“Since this was the last race,” Uetrecht explained, “everybody was a lot more serious and prepared to race.” Bacic remarked how “everyone was so focused and motivated that it was our best race all year.” With the Stotesbury Cup regatta as the culmination of the crew team’s season, perhaps these emotions and spirits can be preserved and utilized in the 2012 season.
