Boys' Crew Takes Second at Regatta

Boys’ varsity crew boats one and two both took second place at the Andover-Exeter-Tabor regatta this past Saturday. In a matchup of the top three crew programs in New England, Tabor beat Exeter’s first boat by .6 seconds and Andover beat Exeter’s boat two by 0.5 seconds.Big Red traveled to Merrimack River in Massachusetts to face Tabor and Andover, both perennial contenders for the NIERA Championship. The conditions were windy and rough, especially in the first third of the race, which threw an extra twist in the race for the coxswains to consider while steering.At the start of the race, B2 fell behind both Andover and Tabor. For both boats, staying focused and getting a good start has been difficult of late. B2, however, had an impressive final three hundred meters that brought them from far behind Andover to neck-and-neck with their rivals. “The race on Saturday was tough, but our final sprint was almost strong enough to make up for a poor start,” upper Julian Drury said.The crew of B1 had difficulty at the start, with the strong winds and current throwing off the boys’ timing. “Our first half of the race could have been a bit stronger,” upper Lakin Vitton said. “We need to work on our execution of our racing strategy.”The boys quickly overcame the rough start, however, and were narrowly ahead of Tabor throughout the rest of the race until just before the final sprint, where some steering trouble knocked the boat out of rhythm. This cost the boat the race to Tabor, who managed to stay strong until the finish. The team, while concerned with their troubles in the final sprint, took away many positives from the race. “We are in a strong position to win at NEIRAs, as long as we work on what we know we need to work on,” upper JB Baker said. “We are as fast as Tabor, and are confident that as long as we stick to our race plan and pull hard, we can beat them in two weeks.”The B2 crew knows they have to work to improve as well, but now find themselves in a good position to beat Andover when the rivals next meet. “We know now that with a strong start and strong practices in the next two weeks, we can and will beat Andover at New England’s,” Drury said.Next up for the team is St. Paul’s School at Concord, N.H. “St. Paul’s is always fun because of our tradition of betting shirts, where the losers give the winners their crew shirts after the race,” Baker said. “It will be a good opportunity for us to race against one of the better teams in our league, and to further practice and perfect our strategy for the championships.”