After being neck-and-neck for the first 1000 meters of the race, Andover Boys Crew B2 pulled away from rival school Kent. Led by rookie coxswain Christina Schoeller ’16, B2 flew down Lane 1 in the final stretch to win the race by one-and-a-half boat lengths.
Rowing under Schoeller’s instruction were Andrew Vallejos ’14, Tora Liu ’16, Scott Simpson ’14, Alex Cao ’16, Dylan Norris ’16, Jack Lane ’15, Nick Faulkner ’16 and stroke Chandler Washburn ’16. With a time of 4:27.5, B2 glided across the finish line five seconds before Kent.
“It was a great race. Our boat had a nice rhythm and lots of power with each stroke. It felt awesome to pull out the win against such a good team. The win gives us the confidence that we can do really well this season,” said Faulkner.
Even though B1 ended up losing its race, it was still a great day for Andover on the Merrimack. All seven of the boats raced.
After falling behind in the beginning of its race, B1 was unsuccessful in its attempt to close the gap on Kent. The boat fell two seconds short of victory and was unable to reclaim the Dent Oars, finishing with a 4:36.8 time.
Kent is a notoriously strong rowing school and has been one of Andover’s fiercest competitors for years. The B1 rowers were disappointed to lose the race, but are focused on improving their starts during practice this week.
“They were a fast crew, and so are we. They’ve had a little more water time than us which helped them with their blade strength. Not trying to make any excuses for us; they were a good crew. The loss just makes us more determined to be successful throughout the rest of our season,” said Captain Grant Bitler ’14.
Andover will take on Simsbury, St. John’s Prep and Phillips Exeter Academy on Saturday.
