Talk to any varsity rower of the Choate Crew Team, and he or she will tell you one thing: rowing has no off-season. Such was especially true for the eight rowers and two coxswains who represented both Choate Boys’ and Girls’ Crew on Sunday, October 23, at the internationally renowned Head of the Charles Regatta in the final race of the fall intramural season.
Although the two boats officially headed up to Boston on the Saturday immediately preceding their race, preparation for the race began weeks earlier. From their arrival in September, all eyes were pointed toward the Charles — a reality attested to by the countdown clock in the team’s main training room. For weeks, the rowers on both teams practiced and seat-raced to earn one of four spots in their team’s Charles boat, receiving feedback along the way with results from the Head of the Riverfront and Head of the Housatonic regattas, from which both teams came away with some medals. By Wednesday, October 19, the lineups for the fours were finalized and submitted to HOCR officials: representing the boys would be Ross Moseley ’17, Alex Overmeer ’17, Alexander Paolozzi ’17, David Herman ’17, and Martin London ’17, and, representing the girls, Arsh Sekhon ’19, Lila Kirchoff ’18, Antigone Ntagkounakis ’17, Libby Wilson ’18, and Gabby LaTorre ’17. Tapering for the race began soon after lineups were announced.
After Choate’s experience at the Charles last year, both teams returned to Boston with something to prove. The girls had heartbreakingly lost their bid for this year’s eight-person race after narrowly failing to place in the top half in last year’s race; thus, the four-person event was a chance for them to prove themselves and reestablish Choate Girls’ Crew as a formidable team.
On the boys’ end, after a spectacular finish in 2015 of 6th place out of 85 teams, the team was hoping to improve their results and hopefully earn some medals—a right reserved for the fastest five crews in the event.
“We definitely came into this with some high expectations because of how well we did last year,” said Ross Moseley ’17, the stroke seat of the boys’ four. “But we’ve been working hard all season, so we’re happy to see that all finally come together.”
Stroke seat of the girls’ four, Sekhon, commented, “We were really nervous, too, because of the chance to re-qualify for next year. We also definitely wanted to leave some kind of legacy for the future of the team.”
For weeks, the Choate Crew prepared prior to the Head of the Charles Regatta in Cambridge, Mass.
Both teams’ crews, as well as spare rowers Stewart Egan ’18 and Mackenzie Morehead ’17, headed up with the coaches on Saturday the 22nd to set up boats and explore the course. All the while, races in the masters’ and alumni categories were already in full swing. Spending the night in a hotel, the two crews woke up the next day ready to race.
Despite the girls’ youth fours event beginning at 8:53 AM, and the boys’ at 11:33 AM, each boat launched onto the river out of the boathouse at Community Rowing Inc. (CRI) about fifty minutes before their race began. A bus of spectators from Choate arrived at the Charles at about 8:00 AM, with ample time to settle before the races began.
After a hard-fought 4,800 meters, the girls’ team coasted across the finish line with a time of 21:22.671. They soon learned this would place them in 32nd out of 85 teams—well within the margin for requalification in 2017.
In the midst of victory celebrations among the girls’ team, the boys took to the start line themselves. With the weight of last year’s performance on their shoulders, the boys finished the race in 18:38.004, securing them 9th place out of 84, with the added benefit of beating out their spring rowing rivals from the Belmont Hill School.
“Even though I’m sad that it’s my last fall race at Choate, I’m still beyond happy about how we did,” said LaTorre. “We really wanted to leave a legacy for the girls next year, so we were so excited to see our results.” Wilson and Ntagkounakis added, “There were a lot of tears after the race.”
On the boys’ side, coxswain Martin London ’17 said of the race, “We were pretty happy about how we did—we’ve been working hard all season. We’re just excited to come back in the spring even stronger and make a good showing at NEIRAs.”
With the Charles behind them, both teams have already begun preparing for the next big competition: the New England Interscholastic Rowing Association Championships in May. The countdown clock is already set: only six months until race day.
The girls’ crew powers through the Charles River, beating out 53 other rowing squads.
