Boys Crew hosted Deerfield, Boston College High School (BC High), and St. John’s Prep (St. John’s) for its first full team home opener. Andover’s first (B1), second (B2), and third (B3) Varsity boats, respectively, had times of 4:38.6, 4:58.5, and 5:11.1. B1 beat BC High in the morning, losing to Deerfield in an afternoon race.
Andretti Candelario ’28 elaborated on the team’s performance. In spite of difficult matchups against Deerfield, BC High, and St. John’s, who were ranked first, fifth, and seventh, respectively, based on 2025 rankings, Boys Crew swept BC High in the first race of the day.
“We got off to a really good start, and [BC High] tried to stay with us, but they couldn’t quite do it. That set the pacing for the rest of the race. They kept trying to bring it back to us, but we weren’t going to let them have that. The most crucial moment is when one of the kids over on the other boat caught a crab, which is when your oar gets stuck in the water, and then you have to stop rowing almost. [It] ruins the whole motion of the bow because you’re supposed to be in one stable rhythm. But crabs destroy that rhythm. When they caught that crab, it was smooth sailing. We beat them by like five boat lengths, which is a lot,” said Candelario.
Sebastián Vermut ’27 provided a description of the B2 race against BC High. Vermut commended the boat’s coxswain, Chloe Park ’27, for a crucial push early in the race that led to a lead that Andover did not relinquish for the rest of the race.
Vermut said, “Rowing starts and sometimes feels a little chaotic. In our race against [BC] High for the B2 [race], it was pretty close between the two boats for the first third of the race. Then, we made a move. We went up a length, we kept that distance, and we stayed up. That was the difference maker. That one moment, you had to be a little courageous, a little bold. Making that choice to move earlier than you usually would, just to get away from the crew and put yourself in a strong spot. Mentally ready for the sprint. That was really, really cool to see. Props to my coxswain Chloe Park for that move.”
However, facing Deerfield proved challenging. The team got swept on all boats it raced against Deerfield, except for B4, where it beat Deerfield and St. John’s. Oliver Rogers ’28 described the difficulty in racing Deerfield.
“The first 40 strokes, Deerfield got up on us. It was really hard, just like telling ourselves to just keep rowing as hard as possible and to not to fall behind. After the start, it was hard to properly continue after the start. We were a little demoralized, because the start wasn’t very good,” said Rogers.
Vermut emphasized that one learning experience was the team’s strength and practice that the team has been putting in for its upcoming races.
“A lot of takeaways [is that] we’re a strong crew and a fit team. Looking in the long run, when we see these teams again,” said Vermut. “How can we surprise them next time and do even better than we did this time? So that looks like getting fitter this year. We did an erg on Tuesday, really focusing on technique based on what we thought we were lacking on Saturday, and applying that in the short term, getting better a little bit every day. Before you know it, by the end of the season, you’ll have improved a lot.”
Boys Crew will race against Hanover High School this Saturday.
