Blair Brings Back Gold from Stotesbury! Check Out On-line Video and Photos
The
Blair rowing team traveled to Philadelphia for the annual
Stotesbury Cup Regatta on May 16 - 17, an event which boasts
nearly 6,000 high school competitors from around the country.
Head boys’ coach Bowen Posner provided the following
report:
In the midst of Friday’s torrential downpour, Blair qualified each boys’ and girls’ crew for its respective semi-final events. The sun finally appeared on Saturday morning, but the Blair crews faced challenging racing conditions given a raging tail current and a stiff, gusty headwind. Nonetheless, the girls’ junior four aggressively attacked Blair’s first final of the day, and, despite falling to 6th place early in the race, the Lady Bucs (Hayley Anderson ’10, Sarah Clark ’09, Kara Stessl ’09, Becca Merrifield ’10 and Lindsay Weil ’09) rowed a gutsy race en route to a silver medal finish. Later that afternoon, the boys’ senior four entered its afternoon final as the top seeded crew as a result of decisive wins in its time trial and semi-final. The crew (Matt Gallira ’08, John Redos ’09, Elliott Anderson ’08, Stephen Patane ’09, and JP Bowditch ’08) jumped to an early lead and remained calm despite being battered by choppy water and high winds. As the crew crossed the final 500 meter mark, it began a decisive sprint and won Blair’s first-ever Stotesbury gold by clear water.
Immediately following the boys’ final, the girls’ senior four (Beth Martens ’08, Tal Thurgood ’08, Olivia Trozze ’08, Sam Tilney ’08, and Michaela McCrink ’08) sped down the Schuylkill River race course while challenging the defending national champion, Peddie School. The girls made a valiant effort and earned a bronze medal as a result, Blair Crew’s first medal in the girls’ senior four category. In a very special moment for the team, the senior boys’ and girls’ fours found themselves on the awards dock together in order to receive their well-deserved medals. Congratulations to Blair Crew for its most successful season!
Stroke and sole senior Matt Gallira ’08 said, “It was wild in the middle of the race. The headwind got really strong, and it was pretty tough, so at the end we had to do a 40-stroke sprint to win it. It’s our first gold ever, and it’s great with the girls medaling too.”
Click on images to view larger,
and enjoy some short video below the photos. More photos from
this event are available on the
crew team's snapshot page .
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