It’s a crisp, fall October morning. After a week of preparation, the moment has finally come. It’s race day. The Jesuit rowers climbs into the narrow boat along with his teammates as he float above the sparkling, pristine water. His mind thinking about nothing else besides the race path and his job as a rower.
On October 18th, the Jesuit crew team traveled to Cambridge, Massachusetts to compete in one of the largest races of the year, with schools from all over the country coming to race in the prestigious Head of the Charles regatta. Despite the intense preparation for the race, the crew team managed to finish just 31st out of 85 total teams, a result that disappointed the team.
Head Coach John Fife commented that “the Head of the Charles is always difficult to prepare for,” acknowledging the “three very challenging turns over the three-mile course” as the hardest part of the regatta. Rower Evan Doran ’17 noted that “the plan for the Charles was just to buckle down and focus on just our boat for that 5k, only focusing on making the boat go faster.”
Regarding the tough finish at the Charles, Coach Fife spoke for the team when he said, “I think we were all disappointed with the result in Boston. We did not get a very good warm up in and did not hit the same speeds we had been getting to in practice. We ended up losing to a few teams in our region that we had previously beaten.”
Despite this, Doran remained optimistic, acknowledging that “we used the disappointing finish at the Charles as fuel for our next regatta at the Head of the Hooch.”
This “fuel” turned out to favor the Rangers in their next race at the Head of the Hooch on November 8th. Traveling this time to Chattanooga, Tennessee, the Rangers made a huge impact on the race, as both the Youth 8 and Lightweight 8 took silver medals in the Men’s division. Also, the Youth 8 and Youth 4+ teams received the honor of fastest high school in the race.
Reflecting on the team’s success, Junior coxswain Parker Allen ’17 commented that “the key to success really was a renewed team focus on aggression in the weeks leading up to the race,” while Coach Fife loved his team’s effort, saying “the guys stepped up in a huge way and raced extremely hard. I was extremely excited about the result.”
Coach Fife further elaborated on the team’s preparation for the race, as well as the cancellation of the Head of the Colorado race a week before, which played a huge role in the outcome of the Hooch race: “Because the Head of the Colorado got cancelled, we ended up scrimmaging a rival club in Dallas that Saturday. We ended up losing by big margins, which forced me to go back to the drawing board and start over with our boating lineups. As a result, we ended up with a completely different lineup in the Varsity 8.” This new lineup allowed the team to succeed in the Hooch race, giving them a nice win heading into the winter season, “the MOST important part of the crew team’s year” according to Coach Fife, as they prepare for the S.W.E.A.T regatta in February.
Because of the strong finish heading into the winter, Allen emphasized how the “team morale has been really boosted by our results. Because of them, we know we have the capability to win the Stotesbury Cup in May.” Coach Fife simply stated: “This is going to be a really fun year.”
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