Varsity Crew Crushes at Head of the Charles

Courtesy of @exetergcrew

By LOGAN BECKERLE, ERIN HAN, and MELIA THIBAULT

At 5 a.m. on Sunday, Oct. 20, members of Exeter’s boys and girls’ varsity crew teams left campus in buses bound for Cambridge, MA. There, they would compete in the annual Head of The Charles Regatta (HOCR)—the world’s largest race of its kind.

The girls’ team sent two boats, while the boys’ team sent one. At the end of the day, the girls’ four person boat stood atop the podium, claiming bronze; the boys’ eight secured 11th place, and the girls’ eight finished in 46th place in a field of over 90 crews.

The teams’ success was the result of hard work and preparation that traces back to the very beginning of fall term. 

The girls’ eight coxswain, Elsa Janicki, shared, “So far the season has been going really well. We did a lot of work to prepare for Head of the Charles with practices five days a week leading up to the regatta.” She detailed, “In order to prepare, we did a lot of longer pieces, things like 5Ks that are more similar to the race, so that we could build up endurance.”

She noted the boat’s goal leading up to the day of the race. “Going in, we wanted to be the bow number from last year which was 53 so we had to get above the 53rd place and that was one of our goals and another goal was to requalify the boat which meant that we had to get above 45th.”

The girls’ four coxswain, Tori Mabardy, recalled the boat’s hopes prior to the race. “Going into the Head of the Charles, or any regatta, it is best to lay out no expectations to perform to your best without the added pressure. Of course, that’s hard to do, and I felt that pressure as, in the years before me, this boat has presented itself exceptionally well, staying in the top five over the previous three years. I hoped to beat our bow number, as it is any athlete’s goal to win, but that hope also weighed as a distraction and added pressure.” 

She continued, “So my main priorities as a coxswain was to ensure that we had a successful race. Regardless of expectations and placing, we wanted to maintain a short course of less than the given meterage by hugging turns and maintaining a straight line along the straighter sections of the course. I motivated my rowers through the toughest sections by having new sentimental calls, and keeping them sound technically. I reminded them of the precision it takes to maintain good rowing.”

This year, the boat extended their podium streak from last year’s performance, during which they had also placed bronze.

Boys’ crew coach Albert Leger explained that he followed an intricate process to choose the eight that would be representing the team at the Head of the Charles. “Over the course of the past four weeks, I was able to identify those rowers who would give us the best chance to succeed at HOCR.” He detailed, “We had ergometer tests on land, seat races on the water, and I observed many different line-ups to see who rowed well together.”

Arian Khichadia, captain of the boys’ team noted that there ended up being a positive difference between expectation and performance. “The Men’s Youth 8+ is the big event of fall racing for all the clubs and school teams in America. Along with the British and Canadian crews, the event gets quite competitive. Our goal, considering that the fall crew season isn’t a varsity season and is a little more casual, was to be in the top 45 of the 90-crew field to requalify the boat for next year and, if we had a good race, to place in the top 30.” He continued, “We weren’t expecting such a good result, considering that we are the ninth fastest American crew and third fastest American High School.”

Leger echoed a similar sentiment. “This year, the boys’ team received a lottery spot in the Men’s Youth Eight event. I would have been happy with a ‘top 30’ finish.  The fact that we came in 11th was incredible. What a race!”

Rowers in the boys’ eight shouted out their coxswain Rohit Kantameni and the part he played in their success. “I can’t say enough for our coxswain, Rohit Kantamneni, for steering us through the course near flawlessly as we passed about nine boats that started before us,” said upper Matthew Minor. “We were able to cap off the fall season with a historic placement for Exeter, 11th out of 90 crews with a time of 15:27.550. This far exceeded our expectations and we are thrilled with the result.”

Leger added, “We started in 71st place, so there was a lot of traffic ahead of us. Our coxswain Rohit Kantamneni ’25 did an incredible job passing seven or eight boats (he lost track!) and keeping a good course (and not crashing into other boats or bridges!). The guys were feisty and rowed hard all the way through the 5K race.”

Senior Ian Kim, another rower on the eight added, “We did a lot of work building up to the trail. We did 16-minute workouts, which is virtually the 5-1 for 5,000 meters, about three times throughout the season.” He concluded, “So we were prepped for what it would feel like on race day.”

For the girls’ eight, a shaky start proved to be their main disadvantage, though they maintained strength and focus throughout the remainder of the course.

Janicki acknowledged this primary challenge. “Definitely the biggest challenge from the race was probably missing our start. The way that Head of The Charles works is you start when your bow number is, and you have to start in order of bow numbers, and we missed our slot to start so we had to go at the very end so instead of starting 53rd we started 92nd.”

She elaborated, “This was definitely a challenge, but we overcame it well and everyone in the boat raced super well and didn’t get too nervous, considering the unfortunate circumstance.We kind of just accepted that we needed to race the best no matter what happened at the start.”

The crew persevered and came through with a strong ranking of 46th. 

Meanwhile, Exeter’s highest rank of the day came from the girls’ four, who took third place in a field of over 90 boats.

Mabardy recalled, “For the fours race, my highlight was passing Bow #1 CBC (the crew that had won last year). As we passed them, I heard Ava (our stroke) yell, ‘bow ball.’ That was not only energizing but motivating. It made me eager to get to the finish, and I’m sure it had the same effect on the other girls.” 

Now that HOCR has passed, both the girls’ and boys’ crew teams have their sights set on the spring. One of the captains of the girls’ team, Sophia Turner shared, “We have spring season a couple months away, where we have the New England Interscholastic Regatta to look forward to in the spring. But until then, we’re just looking to make ourselves as fast as possible.” 

In the meantime, there is still a long winter between now and spring. On behalf of the boys’ team Minor explained, “Our goals moving forward would be to be fast for the spring season and medal at NEIRAs. We will be training over the winter on the ergs and getting back on the water in March.”

Kim detailed, “Everyone on the team that’s committed is gonna show up every day, lift, ideally do another morning session by themselves.” 

Alumnus Will Bernau ‘24, who is now rowing at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology raced in the mens’ club eights, taking 28th. Reflecting on both this year’s race and his previous experiences as an Exonian, Bernau explained what sets HOCR apart for all rowers. 

“HOCR is hard. It’s longer than the standard 2km racing distance by over double, and the conditions are historically, with the exception of this year, deplorable,” Bernau said. “It takes place on the Charles River, which is notorious for giving coxswains steering difficulties. Hundreds of thousands pack the bridges and vie for your attention. In short, there’s nothing about HOCR that is otherwise standard or predictable.”

Crew has infamously been deemed difficult to watch or unenjoyable for spectators, but HOCR holds a different reputation. Bernau shared, “Rowing is not a spectator-friendly sport—to non-rowers, the sport seems largely boring and repetitive (admittedly, it mostly is). One of the few exceptions to this is HOCR.” 

He added, “The history, size, and distance make for an exciting weekend, both as an athlete and a spectator. It’s one of the few events in sport where amateurs and semi-professionals compete alongside world champions and Olympic medalists. Brands flock to Cambridge to give away merchandise, and, for three days, nearly half-a-million people line the banks of the Charles to watch. To me, it’s one of a kind.