Andover Boys Crew faced St. Paul’s and Community Rowing, Inc. (CRI) at St. Paul’s on Saturday, May 5th, finishing with a time of 4:29.2 to defeat CRI crew by 3.3 seconds and St. Paul’s by 8.4 seconds.
On Saturday, in two very tough races against Exeter and Tabor, Andover’s B2 won outright. B1 beat rival Exeter by 8.2 seconds but lost to Tabor by a miniscule 0.4 second margin. The Tabor B1 was coached by Taylor Washburn, Andover Head Coach Peter Washburn’s son.
Coach Peter Washburn said, “In the first boat race, [B1] used what we worked on this week and had a very fast start and good first 500. They were up on Tabor and Exeter by three seats at the end of 500 meters. Tabor made a move, and we countered and held onto the slight lead for the middle 500. Tabor stayed with us but Exeter could not maintain the same pace.”
“In the last 500, it became a race for the finish,” he continued. “Tabor slowly inched up, and although we went faster so did they. At the end, it was very close with Tabor being up by about three feet. It was an excellent race between these two crews. Both Tabor and Exeter came into the race undefeated, and it gave us a good chance to test our speed.”
B1 rower Franco D’Agostino ’13 said, “We had a very quick start against Exeter and Tabor. We distanced ourselves from Exeter early on, but we were even with Tabor throughout most of the race. It’s a bit discouraging to lose by 0.4 seconds, but this race told us how close we are to having a fantastic end to the season.”
Andover’s B2 through B7 all won their races on Saturday. B2 finished with a time of 4:33.8, beating Exeter by 3.3 seconds and Tabor by 4.7 seconds.
Washburn said, “I felt that technically [Andover’s B2] was the best crew out there, and it helped them handle the conditions. They will still have to be more aggressive and not be afraid to go after it early in the race.”
Against St. Paul’s and CRI, B1 triumphed. B1 rower Elezhan Zhakiya ’12, “After the start, we were even with CRI and two seats down on St. Paul’s. But we had a great sprint that put us in the lead.”
D’Agostino said, “During the St. Paul’s race, all of us kept our composure even though we were down on CRI a couple of seats up until the last 700 meters of the race. We started gaining seats, and eventually we took a comfortable lead during the sprint.”
Andover’s B2 placed second in its race, finishing behind CRI by 3.4 seconds but beating St. Paul’s by 13.6 seconds.
Looking forward to Interschols, Washburn said, “We will have NMH as our last regular season race, and all boats will get one final chance at a dual meet, and then the top three boats will work on final preparation for the championships. Mental preparation is very important at this part of the season and we will work on this. They are strong and fit and now we focus on speed. This is a fun part of the season.”
