Andover Boys Crew opened up its race season with an overwhelming sweep of Essex Rowing Club and Simsbury High School this past Saturday. The team’s past two weeks of training on the Merrimack River have paid off as the team claimed first place in each of the five races.
Because of the cold and windy weather, the conditions on the river were rough. There was a strong tail current, which resulted in a floating start, so the starting places were not consistent. The times posted in different races were recorded over different distances and under different conditions.
Rowing alongside Captain Grant Bitler ’14 in B1 were Rome Arnold ’14, Js Dackiw ’14, Ben Hawley ’15, Cooper Hurley ’14, Dylan Norris ’16 and Marc Sevastopoulo ’15. The boat, led by coxswain Jake Rauh ’14, finished with a time of 4:43, six seconds ahead of Simsbury and 16 seconds in front of Essex.
B2 boasted an even larger gap between Andover and its opponents. At 4:33, the boat found the finish line eight seconds before Essex and 19 seconds before Simsbury.
“For numerous boats to come in first place in the first race in the season meant a lot to the whole team. My boat [B2] was primarily made up of all first-time Varsity rowers, and to be able to win our race by such a large margin [four lengths] felt incredible,” said Jake Taylor ’16, a rower on B2.
Andover looks to use this positive momentum to propel it in its race this weekend against Kent and hopes to reclaim the Dent Oars, an honor bestowed on the yearly winner of this rivalry.
