Eight Exeter crews returned to Lake Quinsigamond today to race Kent School in the annual dual meet. The girls squad made another impressive sweep of the competition–their second in a row. This included a spectacular 18 second win by the girls first boat. Races were tighter for the boys squad: Kent’s junior varsity crews proved too much for Exeter’s fourth and third boats, and Kent’s second eight barely edged out Exeter’s second in the last 250 meters. Despite these earlier losses, the boys first boat overcame a three-seat deficit in the first 500 to beat Kent’s B1 by more than half a length. Full results:

G1		G2		G3/G4
Exeter	05:12.0	Exeter	05:31.0	Exeter (3)	05:32.0
Kent	05:30.0	Kent	05:43.0	Exeter (4)	05:37.8
				Kent (3)	05:38.1
				Kent (4)	05:43.1
B1		B2		B3/B4
Exeter	04:31.0	Kent	04:54.0	Kent (3)	05:07.1
Kent	04:32.7	Exeter	04:55.5	Kent (4)	05:18.9
				Exeter (4)	05:20.6
				Exeter (3)	05:22.7

Weather conditions were excellent: mostly sunny skies, temperatures in the 60s with a slight southeast wind.

Girls co-captain Becca Kisner ‘08 said that “It’s really great to sweep again, our confidence from last weekend’s wins definitely carried into today’s racing.” However, the captains and coaches have reminded everyone on the squad that now is not the time to fall into complacency: “Now that all the rowers have seen how much our hard work has paid off, we’ll be raising the bar and pushing people to get faster for upcoming races.” Kisner also remarked she is “very proud of the younger girls for stepping up and racing at a really competitive level.” Video footage of the G1, G2, and G3/G4 races are available on YouTube, courtesy of Chris Hanlon, P ‘10.

Boys co-captain Ian Winthrop ‘08 said that he’s “happy with all the boys performances, especially the two varsity eights.” Winthrop said “In the first boat race we were a little scrambled and a little inconsistent with our strokes for the first 1000. We didn’t really get a good rhythm until at least 1000 meters in. So this week we’ll be doing a lot of long, steady state pieces to work on our rhythm and improve our bladework.” Winthrop added, “We know we have the power, and Coach [Smith] said that Kent rowed better than us, so once we are able to put all that power in the water we should find even more speed.” Regarding the second boat’s narrow loss, Winthrop said “I’m really proud of them: they rowed with a lot of intensity. I was concerned earlier in the season that they might be too small, but they’ve been barely losing against really fast crews, and I think they can definitely find more speed.”

Next week, crews will head to Hanover, NH to race Hanover High School on Dartmouth’s racecourse. Please e-mail me if you would like to take photos of next week’s races since I won’t be able to attend them.

Update: Streaming video of the G1, G2, and G3/G4 races are available on YouTube, courtesy of Chris Hanlon, P ‘10.

Update 2: Full resolution video of all races is now available for direct download here (118MB).

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Race Photos

Pre-Races
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Eight Exeter boats traveled to Lake Quinsigamond today to race Andover, St. John’s, Simsbury, Brookline, and Northfield Mount Hermon in the season opener in Worcester, MA. The girls crews made a dramatic sweep of the competition: all four boats won by margins twelve seconds or greater. On the boys side, closely contested losses by the second, third, and fourth eights were followed by a strong first place finish by the boys first boat eight seconds ahead of Andover, the defending NEIRA champions. Full results:

G1		G2		G3		G4
Exeter	05:11.5	Exeter	05:28.4	Exeter	05:41.6	Exeter	06:05.0
Andover	05:24.5	Andover	05:40.4	Andover	05:55.0	Andover	06:46.7
Brookline	05:30.4	Brookline	05:48.1	Simsbury	06:06.2
Simsbury	05:36.6	Simsbury	05:52.1	Brookline	06:12.4
NMH	05:48.0	NMH	06:11.1
B1		B2		B3		B4
Exeter	04:30.6	Andover	04:38.7	Andover	04:51.0	St. John’s	05:31.3
Andover	04:38.0	Exeter	04:40.7	St. John’s	04:51.6	Exeter	05:34.9
NMH	04:53.9	St. John’s	04:45.6	Exeter	04:58.4	Andover	05:48.1
Simsbury	04:56.9	Simsbury	04:54.4	Simsbury	05:14.0
Brookline	04:57.5	Brookline	05:12.3
St. John’s	04:59.6	NMH	05:25.5

Conditions this afternoon at Quinsigamond were ideal: sunny skies, temperatures in the mid 70s, with only a slight breeze blowing off of the Shrewsbury (eastern) shore.

Girls co-captain Allison Courtin ‘08 said “It’s great that everyone won. We didn’t really know what to expect since this was our first race of the season. We’ve been working really hard and we can see it’s started to pay off.” Looking ahead to the dual meet versus Kent School next weekend, Courtin said “We’re going to keep the same game plan, keep training through these races since each race is a way to see our improvement from week to week.”

Boys co-captain Tim Moore ‘08 said “It’s a good start to the season. There’s a lot of new rowers and younger guys in the lower boats, and I’m confident that they’ll get some more speed as the season progresses.” Regarding the first boat’s win, “I’m really pleased with how we did. The boat was very relaxed and comfortable going down the racecourse. We had both the intensity and the form to move ahead of the field.” Looking to next weekend’s races against Kent, who beat Andover by 3.2 seconds two weeks ago, Moore said “We know it’s going to be a tough race–but races are always tough at this level. This week we’ll probably start bringing up the stroke rating a bit to do some more work on starts and sprints.” Moore also remarked that “These races are definitely a good way to see where we are, but of course we aren’t content with any win besides the last race in May.”

Crews will return to Quinsigamond next Saturday for a dual meet versus Kent School.

A full gallery of photos from all the races will be posted this week.

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Last Saturday, two eights from Belmont Hill School scrimmaged Exeter at home on the Squamscott River. Belmont Hill School, located just outside Boston in Belmont, MA, produces some of the fastest junior fours in the country, having won five straight N.E.I.R.A. Championship titles (2003-2007) and three Youth National Championship titles (2003, 2006, 2007) in the last five years.

Despite giving Belmont Hill school the inside of the turn each time, the Exeter boys first boat led Belmont Hill’s first eight for 6/8 of the 2.5 minute pieces. Co-captain Tim Moore ‘08 said “We had some good strokes and some not-so-good strokes, so consistency is something we’ll definitely be working on. Either way, it’s really nice to race so early in the season so we can have something to build off of.” Moore also noted “We’ve gotten pretty comfortable taking strong strokes, though we need some more work on bladework and technique as well as more practice rowing at higher ratings.”

The Exeter boys second boat made great improvement during the scrimmage, winning two of the last three closely contested pieces after trailing for the first five. Stroke Andrew Weinstein ‘09 said, “There were times the boat felt pretty good–but other times where we lost some speed.” Weinstein added, “Once our lineups are set we’ll definitely get faster as we practice together more.”

In the past few years, Exeter crews have scrimmaged Belmont Hill on the last day of the spring training week in March. However, due to scheduling conflicts, the crews were unable to race on the Charles this year.

Both boys varsity boats as well as boys JV, girls varsity and girls JV are preparing for their first races of the season on April 19th against Andover, St. John’s, NMH and a few other schools. Races will take place in the afternoon at Lake Quinsigamond in Worcester, MA. Stay tuned for updates as this date nears.

Race Photos