With the whistling fan of the erg machine humming, the steady breath of high-school students rowing back and forth, and the loud encouragement from teammates and fans, Dallas area rowers descended upon Jesuit to participate in the annual S.W.E.A.T. Indoor Regatta.
On Saturday February 4, eight clubs from around the area, including your Jesuit Rangers, competed in the “Southwest Ergometer Amateur Tournament” in the Terry Center on Jesuit’s campus.
The tournament was essentially an indoor regatta where individuals from each team used the ergometer, a machine that simulates rowing. Many clubs from all over North Texas came as a way to finish out the winter off-season before the season begins in the spring.
S.W.E.A.T. was divided into many different divisions, including men’s novice, men’s high school freshmen, men’s open lightweight, men’s open, men’s junior lightweight, men’s junior, and even men’s coxswain race. Each division also had a corresponding women’s competition.
The Jesuit Rangers crew team won the overall points total by a landslide over White Rock Boathouse. The rowers accumulated a total of 17 points behind four first-place winners, three second-place winners, and two third-place winners.
Every race was 2,000 meters, and Westford Lang ’12 clocked the best individual time at six minutes and eight seconds.
Jesuit rowers have benefited from extensive off-season training. “S.W.E.A.T. is a transition from the winter training to the spring season,” said junior coxswain Ryan Terry. “And we spent all winter training in order to be effective during their races in the spring.”
Terry stressed the importance of starting out strong in the indoor regatta after the long winter session of training. “Medals are earned in the winter but received in the spring,” Terry said. “S.W.E.A.T. is the first step in our season and we look to do great things this season as we represent Jesuit out on the water.”
S.W.E.A.T. not only foreshadows the success the crew team will find this year but also underscores all the hard work and training the rowers put into this season during the winter.
Stay tuned for more news on the Jesuit Ranger Crew Team as they look to finish well in their next regatta on March 4th in Austin, Texas.
