The Jesuit crew team had a busy schedule ahead of them on the weekend of April 12-13. On April 12, the team flew to Middletown, Del. to attend the Noxontown Regatta hosted by St. Andrew’s School and on April 13, the team went to Philadelphia to attend the 5th Manny-Flick Regatta. After all their hard work during spring break and after their success at the Heart of Texas Regatta, they knew that this would be their time to harness their skills and talent.
Day 1: Noxontown Regatta
The Noxontown Regatta was held on Noxontown Pond, a very secluded pond that is right on the campus of St. Andrew’s School, a private boarding school where the movie “Dead Poets Society” was also shot. Jesuit raced along with five other teams: Gonzaga High School (D.C.), St. Joseph’s Preparatory School (Pa.), St. Alban’s School (D.C.), Monsignor Bonner High School (Pa.), and St. Andrew’s School (Del.). In all, there were three Jesuit schools, one Catholic school, and two Episcopalian schools, which made it “a pretty good community of people,” according to Head Coach John Fife, ready to carry his team to success in the Freshman 8, the Varsity 8, and the second Varsity 8.
In the Freshman 8, Jesuit placed 2nd behind Gonzaga High School in a really close finish by less than a second. Within the last couple of seconds, the freshmen kept on pushing till the end to earn them an impressive time as well as an impressive finish.
In the Varsity 8, Jesuit placed 3rd behind Gonzaga High School and St. Joseph’s Preparatory School, who were both in the top 3 national teams for scholastic teams.
In the second Varsity 8, Jesuit came in 2nd again behind Gonzaga High School, who proved to be a true competitor in this regatta and an overall challenge that Jesuit would need to overcome in the future.
Day 2: 5th Manny-Flick Regatta
The 5th Manny-Flick Regatta was held on the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia. “Manny-Flicks are a series of races on Sundays in Philadelphia run by the 
Philadelphia Scholastic Rowing Association,” explained Fife. “Every Sunday for 5 Sundays, there are races for all the high schools in the region.” Thousands upon thousands of people come to this huge race, and even though it’s just a high school race, there are more entries in this regatta than the biggest collegiate regatta in the country, the Dad Vail. Teams from Philadelphia, Eastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York all attended along with Jesuit. St. Joe’s Prep hosted Jesuit on that Sunday (and on Saturday at their hospitality tent) at their boathouse as well as their hospitality tent and fed the team along with their parents, a true act of brotherhood. This regatta also posed a challenge as there were 25 mph headwinds with rolling white caps. Despite this, Jesuit was set on winning the gold after the Noxontown Regatta.
Since there were so many other entries, the Freshman 8 was a time trial instead of an actual race. And in the Freshman 8, Jesuit finished in 3rd behind La Salle High School and Christian Brothers Academy and beat 15 other teams in the process, even though there were a lot of obstacles along the way.
In the Varsity 8, Jesuit placed 3rd behind St. Joseph’s Preparatory School and Holy Spirit High School, a Catholic high school on the Jersey shore.
Finally, in the second Varsity 8, Jesuit won 1st over Moorsetown, a team from New Jersey, by an astounding 16 seconds.
“I feel like our guys, particularly in the Varsity, did a much better job on Sunday than they did on Saturday racing some of these other schools,” continued Fife, overjoyed by the results. “We just kind of got outsized by them, because the guys in the St. Jose’s prep boat were much bigger than us. When you’re racing into a headwind, size matters.”
Recap:
Overall, Jesuit proved to be a true competitor nationally, after beating teams from the Southwest in the past and now beating teams from the Northeast.
“I thought it was a great opportunity for us to see schools that we have to race again at the Stotesbury Cup which is in May,” stated Fife. “We got a lot of value out of this trip, we learned a lot, we were able to make some adjustments to our lineups, and we know what we need to work for to improve against those schools in the middle of May.”
Be sure to catch up with the team and cheer them on as they prepare for regionals in two weeks!
