The Stotesbury Cup Regatta has been held anually on the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is the largest and oldest high school regatta in the world, with over 165 different schools entering 820 boats into 31 different events. The Rangers entered into three of these events, the Boys Junior Four, the Boys Lightweight Four, and the Boys Junior Eight. The Boys Junior four event had a total of 54 entries, the Lightweight Four had 14 entries, and the Junior Eight had 40 Entries.

May 15, 2025

The Jesuit Crew Team and coaches arrived at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport at 5:30 AM, where they then departed at 7:20 AM. The Rangers then arrived in Philadelphia at 11:40 AM, where they then traveled to the racecourse in order to rig their boats for the time trials the next day. It was during this time where Head Coach Eli Brown was featured on CBS News.

“We’ll deal with conditions and try to row the best race. I think we’ve prepared a lot leading up to this. It takes all year, we don’t have any doubts these guys are prepared to race” said Head Coach Eli Brown during his interview with CBS News, showing his trust in the Rangers skill despite the unfavorable weather.

After Coach Eli’s interview and successfully rigging the two fours and the eight, the entire Rangers team walked the entire racecourse, identifying important landmarks like the start line and finish line, as well as seeing the Temple boathouse. The Rangers then returned to their vans and headed back towards the hotel for a nice night of sleep. But in a surprising turn of events, the coaching staff surprised the Rangers with a detour to Target to allow the Rangers to purchase supplies like energy drinks and protein bars so that they could be ready for the coming race day. After all of the Rangers were done shopping at Target, they headed back to the hotel where they went to bed early in order to wake up early for the races the next morning.

May 16, 2025

The Junior 4+ and Junior 8+ awoke at 7:00 AM and left for the racecourse at 7:40 AM.

The Junior 4+ began their land warmup at 8:14 AM, which consisted of a 10′ run, dynamic stretching, six sets of air squats, or “jumpees,” individual stretching, and then meeting up with the coaches. The rowers got hands on the boat at 8:34 where they then walked to the launch dock and rowed to the starting line for their race at 9:24. The Junior 4+ came in 12th place with a impressive time of 4:54.52, beating out 42 other crews in a impressive display of the Ranger’s skill and grit.

The Junior 8+ had a slightly different morning, as they began their warmup at 9:35, which was over an hour and a half later than the Junior 4+. Regardless, the Junior 8+ got hands on the boat at 9:55 and rowed it down to the starting line for their time trial. They came in 16th, beating out 24 other boats with an impressive time of 4:36.58.

The Lightweight 4+ had begun their warmup at 10:28, just a few minutes before the Junior 8+ finished their time trial. The hopes for this boat were high, as this was the same lineup that experienced great success at the Central Youth Regionals, which consisted of: Sunil Shah ’27 (C), Jackson Gregg ’26 (4), Noah Fahrenbruch ’27 (3), Gabe Gerik ’26 (2), and Barret Gibbins ’26 (1). This boat came in fourth during the Men’s Youth 4+ event; however, this race at Stotesbury was different because instead of being an Open event, it was strictly limited to Lightweights. The Lightweight 4+ got hands on at 10:48 AM and launched to begin their time trial at 11:38 AM. The Lightweights came in first place, beating 13 other crews and beating the third-place crew by 15 seconds. Coming in with a truly unbelievable time of 4:34.39, the Rangers achieved the fastest time for this event in Stotesbury history, a truly remarkable achievement.

After celebrating the day’s victory, the Rangers headed back to the hotel in order to rest up for Semi-Finals the next day.

May 17, 2025

The Junior 4+ and Junior 8+ awoke at 6:15 AM in order to eat a light breakfast and begin preparing themselves for their race. However, they were in for a surprise when they woke up. When the Rangers woke up that morning, they opened their phones and saw a SportsYou notification, which is the app that all Rangers athletic teams use to communicate with their coaches and each other. When they opened this notification, they had a message that said that there will be no races on that day due to unsafe river conditions. The Rangers were obviously very saddened by this news, as they were excited to show their power and skill that they had been developing over the past few months.

However there was a good side to this, because the Semi-Finals and Finals were canceled. The Rangers had secured a first place at the largest high school regatta in the world. This was the first time in the Jesuit Crew program’s history that a boat has won first at Stotesbury, a truly significant moment highlighting the dedication that the team had been putting towards the sport.

The Rangers left for the racecourse at 8:00 AM in order to receive their trophy and take pictures. After taking pictures and receiving their trophy, the Rangers packed up the boats and loaded the trailer, marking the end of their time at the racecourse this year. They then left to go back to the hotel so that they could go to their next destination, Reading Terminal. The Rangers arrived at Reading Terminal and shopped for around two hours, where after leaving they drove around the UPenn and Drexel Campus’s and then headed back to the hotel where they stayed until they left for the airport the next morning.

The 2025 Stotesbury Regatta was extremely successful for all boats on the Rangers team, especially with all boats qualifying for Semi-Finals. Even without competing in Semi-Finals or Finals, the Rangers were still satisfied with taking home the Bill Belden Award, which is the trophy that they were awarded for winning Stotes. Overall, the regatta served as a good example of the Rangers dedication and time that they have put into practice this year and is a projection of the great successes they will put up next season.

Tune into The Roundup for Jesuit Crew’s Fall 2025 Season!