Legs locked, arms extended, sweat rushing down his face, muscles tensing, the rower pushes his way through, with each oar tug, salty water splashing everywhere, along with the rest of his team, to finish the race.
The Jesuit Crew Team looks to start their 2013-2014 season with great success and ambition to literally blow their opponents “out of the water” in their first race in Oklahoma City on the weekend of October 5-6. Led by Coach John Fife along with Senior Captain Jordi Perez, the team has over 50 rowers, making this year’s team the largest in school history.
And with a new set of freshmen rowers, the team looks to make a fresh start and continue the success they had had over the past years. “The outlook is really good,” exclaimed Fife. “We’re coming off a really good year. We’re looking to build on that and the guys are pretty excited.”
That really good year included a plethora of accomplishments by the 2012-2013 team.
The pinnacle of the Jesuit Crew Team’s year was in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at the Stotesbury Cup, one of the biggest high school regattas in the world, where the team managed to send all three of their boats to the Grand Final, for the first time in Jesuit history. The Jesuit Lightweight Division even managed to earn 2nd, along with a silver medal, at the regatta, which was also the first time in Jesuit history to perform such a feat. The Freshmen A team finished 4th out of around 70 teams and the Varsity 4 team came in 6th out of around 65 teams.
Also, at the National Championships in June, the Lightweight 8 Division finished 11th overall and finished 5th in the finals. “We were four tenths of a second out of 2nd,” explained Fife. “There were three boats within less than a half a second. It was pretty crazy.”
Looking back at these accomplishments, the Jesuit Crew Team is determined to perform even better than previous years especially since they have the largest team in school history.
Along with the race in Oklahoma City, the Jesuit Crew Team looks forward to the S.W.E.A.T. regatta which stands for
“Southwest Ergometer Amateur Tournament” and is in February. People, even those not in high school, from all over the southwest and beyond come to this indoor regatta where they test the erg machines, which is the only regatta hosted at Jesuit.
There were over 600 rowers who attended last year and the crew team “expect an even bigger turn out than last year,” Fife stated. “It’s our only home turf thing we do, because every other race and competition we go to is away. This is the one time Jesuit crew gets to stay at home. It’s a point of pride for us.”
One of the biggest events of the year for the Jesuit Crew Team is getting to attend the Head of the Charles regatta in Boston, Massachusetts on October 19-20, which is also the largest regatta in the world. High school, college, and even Olympic rowers attend this regatta and Jesuit will be sending eight rowers and a coxswain to race against over 80 other teams. According to Fife, “Ten or eleven of those [80] are also Jesuit schools from around the country and the fastest Jesuit school wins a trophy. The trophy is called the Jesuit Cup and that’s something we’re always looking forward to.”
The Jesuit Crew Team looks better than ever and is ready to set even more school records than before. Be sure to catch up with their regatta in Oklahoma City and cheer them on to victory.
If you have any questions about crew, please contact Coach John Fife at jfife@jesuitcp.org.
