This past weekend, Deerfield rowers traveled to Connecticut’s Lake Waramaug to race at Founders Day Regatta, a premier event that the Gunnery School has been hosting for the past 59 years! Although this year marked the first time Deerfield had attended, it proved to be an excellent addition to the team’s spring schedule. Founders Day is an exciting event that follows the New England Championship format with heats in the morning and finals in the afternoon, providing athletes with the opportunity to race twice in a single day.
While the weather on Sunday may have been overcast and wet, the conditions were excellent for racing and a talented field provided several exciting finishes throughout the day for the many spectators on site. Six Deerfield boys’ fours lined up in the morning heats and they produced five wins and one second place finish, results that moved all crews on to the finals later in the day.
The afternoon session began with two Deerfield novice crews racing in final-only events (there were no morning heats for these crews). Both crews raced well and picked up the win in their respective races. Following the novice events, Deerfield’s two entries in the 5V4+ squared off with several other strong crews. In what was one of the most exciting finishes of the day, the Belmont Hill 5V4+ edged out the Deerfield 5V4+ by a few feet to pick up the win, with the Belmont Hill 6V4+ finishing in 3rd, a few seconds ahead of the Deerfield 6V4+.
As the afternoon finals continued, great battles between Deerfield and Belmont Hill became a reoccurring theme as the Deerfield 1V4+, 2V4+, 3V4+, and 4V4+ all notched wins with Belmont Hill following closely in 2nd in each event. Several crews from the Taft School also found themselves squarely in the mix and took home a number of 3rd place finishes for their great efforts. While it was a great day to be in green, the tight racing showed that there is still plenty of work to do as the team moves into the final weeks of the season.
However, it was a successful day at Lake Waramaug and the boys capped the day by winning the Founders Cup, awarded to the team points champion, a truly exciting accomplishment given the strength of the many teams in attendance.
Full results from the racing can be found on Row2K.com here: http://results.regattatiming.com/backoffice/webpages/staticRaceResults.jsp?raceId=444
The boys’ team will be back in action on Saturday, May 12, in Northampton, MA as they host Middlesex School, Milton High School, and Nobles.
Sunday, May 6, 2018 Line ups
Boys First Varsity 4+
Coxswain – Henry Hayden
Stroke – Vanja Obradovic
3 – Jimmy Patton
2 – Henry Lowe
Bow – Lachlan Cormie
Boys Second Varsity 4+
Coxswain – Robbie O’Brien
Stroke – Tommy Gilmore
3 – Oliver Diamond
2 – Philip Weymouth
Bow – Punisa Lekovic
Boys Third Varsity 4+
Coxswain – Kishor Bharadwaj
Stroke – Jack Brown
3 – Charlie Pink
2 – Spencer Hurst
Bow – Andrew Peck
Boys Fourth Varsity 4+
Coxswain – Allison Xia
Stroke – Chris Thagard
3 – Jake Meier
2 – Garrett Alexander
Bow – Zane Smith
Boys Fifth Varsity 4+
Coxswain – Robbie O’Brian
Stroke – Seth Thayumanavan
3 – Nick Fluty
2 – Gabe Moos
Bow – Owen Louis
Boys Sixth Varsity 4+
Coxswain – Henry Barrera
Stroke – Lawrence von Steuben
3 – Kian Sorhaindo
2 – Matt Wierzbicki
Bow – Nikhil Barnes
Boys Novice A
Coxswain – Inthat Boonpongmanee
Stroke – Charlie Lewis
3 – Skye Bacon
2 – Hayden McGuinness
Bow – Alex Centola
Boys Novice B
Coxswain – Mark Chung
Stroke – Ari Kraan
3 – Alex Leong
2 – Thomas Lyons
Bow – Eric Wang