Last weekend, the crew team competed in its first regatta in Oklahoma City on the Oklahoma River, and had great success, bringing home 24 gold medals, 4 silver, and 20 bronze.
At this regatta, all of the Jesuit Rowers competed. Jesuit entered a Varsity 8, Lightweight 8, JV 8, Freshman 8, 3 Varsity fours, 3 Lightweight fours, and 2 freshman fours. Coach John Fife had pretty high expectations for his team based on performance in practice and on the erg, which has been much ahead of previous years. He explained that, “All indications were that we should perform pretty well. However, you never know how fast the competition is going to be.”
The Varsity 8, Lightweight 8, Varsity 4, and the Lightweight 4 all won gold, while the Freshman 4 finished second, winning silver. The Junior Varsity 8, the Freshman 8, and the B-Lightweight 4 all finished third. Senior Captain Christian Taylor described the team’s dominant performance: “The team showed, for the first time, that continual training in the summer and hard work at the start pays off, leading to our sweeping victories at the varsity level.”
Coach Fife explained that he was very proud of the team because they had the best results ever at the Oklahoma City regatta. He elaborated, “Our guys raced really hard and started the season off on a great note. I was really proud of everyone’s performance. It was really exciting to see our freshman class race for the first time. They did an incredible job.” Freshman Daniel Redel had this to say about his first regatta, “It was very exciting, but at the same time I felt a lot of pressure. It was a great first experience seeing all the competition and I am looking to the future regattas this season.”
Although the team dominated in Oklahoma, Coach Fife believes the boys need to continue to focus on their strength on the erg and their skill in the boat. He said, “We are focused on making our boats go a little bit faster everyday. We know the competition keeps getting stiffer, so we need to stay focused and continue to train hard.”
After their great success at their first regatta, the Jesuit crew team looks to improve and continue the success at the Head of the Charles regatta on October 19.
