On Monday, May 21, 2012, Yorktown Crew Boosters hopes everyone in Arlington will eat at DISTRICT TACO on Lee Highway (next to Bray and Scarff Appliances).  From opening to closing, simply add "Yorktown Crew" to the end of your order at District Taco.  District Taco will place your receipt in a bucket for purchases whether it is breakfast, lunch, or dinner.  No flyer needed!  Just remember to say, Yorktown Crew, when ordering.

District Taco will donate up to $500 to Yorktown rowing if we get $2,500 in sales on Monday.  Every penny spent at District Taco brings us closer to our goal of buying a new boat.  Please let your friends and neighbors help us out, too!

The Virginia state championship regatta May 12 featured great racing and a solid showing for Yorktown crew, with all four boats claiming spots in the grand final of their respective events. The competition was strong, however, and only the men’s 2V came home with a medal, finishing second behind a fast St. Albans boat. 

In their morning heat, the men’s 2V struggled at the start; they fell a few seats back of a fired-up crew from Thomas Jefferson and never caught up. The men finished second in their heat, putting them in lane 2 for the final. 

Following that race, the men’s 1V, seeded third overall, won their heat by a touch of open water over Madison and advanced to the grand final, where they also would race out of lane 2. Both mens’ crews launched for their finals with plans to challenge the favored St. Albans boats and let the chips fall where they might.


In the 2V final, Yorktown got off to a much better start than in its heat and held even with the undefeated St. Albans boat, racing in lane 3, for the first 400 meters. This good start got the Patriots moving on Madison in lane 1 and T.J. in lane 4. Once the Bulldogs of St. Albans started to pull away from the Patriots, the YHS 2V had established a solid lead on both T.J. and Madison and the race was on for the silver medal. 

The only late challenge in this race came not from T.J. or Madison, however, but from W-L out in lane 6 who made a strong late charge from the far lane after moving easily past Robinson in lane 5. The psychological boost from moving on the adjacent crew proved a telling matter in this race, as it would in the 1V race to come later. As the 2V crews came by the grandstand, St. Albans had moved out to a comfortable lead with a bit of open water between it and Yorktown, which held an open water lead over T.J. The final sprint from W-L was nail-biting, but they did not have enough room to finish off the comeback and ended up 1.5 seconds back in third, with YHS second. 　 

Coached by former YHS assistant and W-L grad Rob Shaw the W-L 2V has improved significantly since the Charlie Butt regatta, and way out-performed their number seven seed coming in. Congratulations to Rob and the W-L boys for the big upset, which resulted in an all upper Potomac sweep in the 2V event. Both Arlington crews received and accepted bids to represent VASRA at SRAA Nationals May 25 and 26. 

In the 1V final, it again looked like St Alban's race to lose based on the morning heat times, but the Patriot 1V men were not to be intimidated. In this final, however, fortuitous lane placement was not to fall Yorktown's way. T.J. was upset in its morning heat by a furious last 20-stroke sprint by Westfield and finished second, placing them not in lane 4 as expected but in lane 1. The Patriot men, open water winners of heat 3, advanced to lane 2, with St. Albans next to them in lane 3. Westfield took lane 4, with W-L in lane 5 and Madison in lane 6. In this very closely matched field for places 2-6, these little details ended up making a great deal of difference. Unfortunately, Yorktown ended up with the fastest-starting and physically strongest crews flanking them on either side. 　 

Off the start, St. Albans and T.J. moved on the field leaving YHS, W-L, Westfield and Madison to battle to stay in the race. YHS had to fight the feeling of slipping to the early leaders on both sides, while outside, W-L moved on its two neighbors, Westfield and Madison. This double whammy on both sides of Westfield in lane 4 took some of the sparkle out of the heat 2 winner and by 500 to go, the hard-sprinting crew was too far back to make a go at the medals, headed ultimately for 6th. YHS was still overlapped with T.J., but a few seats back, battling to hold third, while St. Albans had broken contact with the field in first and had a commanding lead with 400 to go. BUT, three lanes over, W-L had pushed past both Westfield and Madison and had the momentum coming into the final sprint.  

As the crews closed on the finish, St. Albans had the field by more than a length for its third Virginia state championship in a row, with a bang, bang, bang finish for places two to four. In the end, it was W-L charging through in lane 5 that nipped both T.J. and YHS for second, with T.J. holding on for third. The final margins for W-L and T.J. were just 1.59 and 1.37 seconds, respectively, over Yorktown—painfully small but telling differences. This was W-L’s first trip back to the medal dock since 2007 when YHS and W-L finished second and third.　This also was Yorktown's first out-of-the-medals finish in the 1V in six years—a learning experience that should make for a more focused effort at Nationals when all four top finishers will face off one last time at Cooper River in New Jersey. 

On the women’s side, it was a day of great racing and promising results. The 2V women were seeded 8th going into the championship and thus were racing in an outside lane in their heat. With three to advance and the strong Madison women in their heat, the girls knew they would have to beat a couple of boats ranked ahead of them to move on—and they did.　The Lady Patriots finished second behind Madison in the heat, beating both fifth-ranked Robinson and fourth-ranked Oakton.
 
Their strong performance landed the girls in lane five of the grand final. The 2V had a solid race and finished 5th overall, with Madison winning easily with a nine second advantage over NCS. In third, another boat length back was T.C. Williams, with T.J. right behind. The 2V will race as a Junior 8 at Stotesbury this coming weekend. 　 

The 1V started out the year knowing they had some work to do, having lost four seniors to college squads.　Each week during the season the crew did just that, it worked hard and gained speed. Their hard work earned them a sixth seed coming into states, but they were in a two-to-advance heat, alongside top-ranked Madison and seventh-ranked Oakton. Having not raced during the season, it was unclear which team had the better opportunity to move on. The 1V had a fantastic start and jumped out front in the first 500. Madison powered through them in the middle 500, but Oakton couldn't make up the difference. The 1V finished open water in front of Oakton and advanced to the final.　 

Yorktown was in lane 5 between T.J. and NCS. The 1V couldn’t quite stay with the leaders, but knowing a spot at Nationals was on the line pushed them at the end. They battled with Robinson all the way down the course and in the last 30 strokes sprinted past both Robinson and T.C. Williams, finishing　4th overall behind a stellar Madison crew in first, NCS in second, and T.J. in third.  

The future looks bright for the top women's boats as there are just three seniors in the two boats combined. But that is for next year, now it is on to Stotesbury and Nationals.

The points are in through mid-May - now is a good time for you to review the point tracker and check for accuracy.  If you have earned points that do not appear in this version of the tracker, please contact the event coordinator. Important reminder: If you do not share the same last name as your rower, please include your rower's last name when you sign in for points.

On another great weather day for racing, eight YHS crews competed in the 2012 VASRA Lower Boat Championship Regatta on May 5 and a record-setting four crews made it to the awards dock—a ``never been done before’’ event for Yorktown rowing. 

The women's 3V had without a doubt the strongest medal-winning performance, outclassing their five opponents and winning by open water with a margin of 4.7 seconds. This was the women's first 3V gold medal since 2009. Congratulations to coaches Nick Johnson and Carol Dinion and all the hard-charging, smooth-rowing women of the 2012 3V!

The men's 3V continued Yorktown’s recent dominance of this event, winning a third straight gold medal for the school. Facing a stiff closing sprint by a determined Westfield crew, the Patriot men hung on to win by 4.2 seconds, another open water victory.

The freshman eight competitions for boys and girls are always the premier events at the lower boat championship and the competition was particularly keen this year. 

The YHS freshman women, seeded 2nd coming into the competition, drew a fast heat with crews from Thomas Jefferson, McLean and Lake Braddock. The crews raced neck and neck for 1,000 meters; only in the last 500 did T.J. begin to pull away while McLean and Yorktown remained locked in a "to-the-wire struggle" for second and the last spot to advance to the finals. The McLean women put on a furious sprint in the last 150 meters and managed to push their bow just slightly ahead of the Patriot 8, edging across the finish 0.82 seconds ahead of the Yorktown boat. Sadly, the medal hopes of the freshman women were dashed by just one seat. 

The men’s freshman eight, also seeded second coming into the regatta, won its heat to advance to the final and another showdown with the talented crews from W-L, St. Albans and T.C. Williams. The race was close for about 750 meters, but then the powerful W-L crew began to pull away, opening a substantial lead on the field on its way to the gold medal. Their surge left Yorktown, St. Albans and T.C. Williams to battle it out for the final two medal spots. In a furious finish by all three crews it was Yorktown that pushed its bow slightly ahead, taking the silver, 0.74 seconds up on St. Albans, with T.C. following in 4th just 0.30 seconds behind STA. Wow. 　 

The freshman 8, coached by Steve Cauffman, made it to the medal dock for a second straight year, having taken silver in 2011 as well. The freshman men also took silver in 2009 under Coach Nate Uhlenbrock. 

This was the first time in four years that a VASRA opponent had beaten the STA freshman boat even up.　STA missed the start for the Ted Phoenix race last year and Thomas Jefferson won it, but STA was the better crew. W-L's big win in the boys freshman 8 and Yorktown’s second place finish is very good news for Arlington rowing and promises several exciting years of varsity competition between YHS and W-L, whose freshmen are coached by Wilson DeSousa, a former YHS assistant. Congratulations to Wilson and the W-L freshman 8. Let’s hope the ninth grade Arlington boys from both schools make their presence known in a big way at Stotes May 18-19.

The women’s novice 8 also advanced to the finals, beating Madison and T.C. Williams in their morning heat. In the afternoon final, a hard-rowing crew from Gloucester High School near Williamsburg pushed away from the field and won the gold medal by a big eight-second margin. The Yorktown women held their own against the rest of the field, finishing second to pull in a hard-earned silver medal. This was Coach Heather Young's second medal-winning crew, having coached the freshman women to a silver medal in 2011.

The boys novice 8 came within two seats of winning its heat, finishing just back of a solid crew from Gloucester. In the finals, however, a bad crab cost the Patriots a shot at a medal and they finished 5th.

The girls 4V finished second in a three-boat final. According to VASRA rules, this does not qualify for a medal, but the crew did a fine job and should count in the Patriot "top finisher count."

The boys 4V could not hang with a solid field of crews from Robinson, Westfield and Oakton and finished a distant fourth.

"It was another great day for our program," commented Andy Bacas, YHS program director. "I can't tell you how proud I am of how our kids performed, bot on and off the water. They brought great credit to themselves, their families and the school."

The Yorktown 1V and 2V crews will race next in the Virginia State Championship Regatta on May.

The rain held off and the river was flat—all in all a great day for racing. The following are summaries for the Yorktown crews at the Charlie Butt regatta:

Women's freshman 8—Second in opening heat to McLean, but beat McLean in the final, finishing a solid third behind T.C. Williams and NCS, seven seconds out of first. They will be in the medal hunt at states for sure!

Women's novice 8—Won their heat and then the final by open water over W-L and McLean. This crew is another likely medalist at states!

Women's 4th 8—Came through with a huge 27 second victory over T.C. Williams; they are another likely medalist.

Women's 3rd 8—Rowed to an impressive open water win over Madison and T.C. Williams. This crew is a possible gold medal contender.

Women's junior 8—The crew won its event by open water over Georgetown Visitation and W-L, a powerful showing by our 2V girls.

Women's 1st 8—Had a great row in the morning heat, taking the lead over mighty Madison in the first 500 before falling back to second, 11 seconds behind the Warhawks. In the final it was the pick of VASRA lined up against our top gals, undefeated Madison, NCS and T.C. Williams, all likely states medalists. The Patriot women rowed hard, but finished fourth.

Men's freshman 8—Won their heat over T.C. Williams and Madison. In the final, in the best race of the day, the Patriot freshmen nosed out St. Albans for second behind W-L. This crew has a great medal shot on May 5 and likely will enter the regatta as the number two seed.

Men's novice 8—Finished second in their heat behind McLean, but well up on T.C. Williams.  Due to a coaching miscue, this crew missed its final.

Men's 4th 8 - [to be added]

Men's 3V/novice 4--Won their event by many lengths of open water after never having rowed together before. Way to go guys!

Men's 3rd 8—Won their event by open water over Madison and W-L and will likely go into the lower boat championship regatta as the number one seed, aiming for a third consecutive gold medal for Yorktown in this event.

Men's 2nd 8—Won their heat by open water over Madison, but fell again in the final to the defending Stotesbury silver medalist crew from St. Albans by seven seconds. This crew will be seeded second or third at states.

Men's 1st 8--Won their heat over Madison by a touch of open water. In the final, the Patriot men closed their margin behind defending Stotesbury gold medalist St. Albans, finishing just six seconds back in second. Perhaps more important, the crew was open water up on both Madison and W-L, two very fine 1V crews and both Nationals medalists last year in the Junior 8. This year's YHS 1V crew likely will be seeded second or third at states.

The coming fortnight could be a big one for the YHS program—at least eight crews have decent medal hopes going into the VASRA championship season.  

Good luck to all! 

The complete results can be found on the Row2k web site at: http://www.row2k.com/results/resultspage.cfm?UID=4961468&cat=6

Tomorrow promises to be a day full of great races and fabulous competition, we hope to see you all there.

Once again we are racing down on the Potomac River in Georgetown, which makes the morning much easier for everyone.

The team will have two buses from Yorktown to TBC. The first leaves at 6:15 AM. This bus is for the 1V, F8 and Novice 8 boats (both men and women). The second bus, at 8 AM, is for everyone else.

Coxswains will be picked up at 6 AM at Yorktown by the coaches.

Rowers do not have to ride the bus, but they MUST be at TBC at least 1.5 hours before their scheduled race. If your parents are going to bring you down that is fine, just don't be late--your coach won't be happy.

For parents driving kids, remember that you will not be able to get into the TBC parking lot, so you will have to drop your kid(s) off by Washington Harbour or the Watergate. Remember also that parking will be tight tomorrow. This is a much bigger regatta than the past two weeks, so if you come late you should plan on finding a parking garage. Anyone at a meter is warned--feed it regularly.

The schedule that went out earlier is still the same. There may be some slight modifications in the morning, but they won't have an impact on arrival times, etc.

If you want any additional information, check out the Charlier Butt regatta web site at http://www.charliebuttregatta.com/2012/Welcome.html

We will be trying to post results tomorrow in relative real time on the Charlie Butt facebook page and twitter. Hop on the web site tonight and friend us.

Row fast!

Yorktown’s freshman and novice crews put their local competitors on notice Saturday, winning a series of tough races against some of their fastest competition of the year on another beautiful day for racing on the Potomac River. 

The women's freshman 8 came back from a second place finish in the opening heat versus Whitman and McLean to win the final race over National Cathedral and Whitman. The winning margin for the gals in the Class of 2015 was four seconds over a very skilled and determined crew from NCS.

In a tremendously tough and tight race, the men's freshman 8 fought back in their final to win over St. Albans in a huge comeback in the last 500 meters. The determined YHS crew had given up almost a length to the Bulldog 8 by 750 in, but edged back into contention over the last half of the race. With both crews tiring in the last 500 meters and YHS moving up, the St. Albans crew caught a crab and the Patriot 8 slipped by to win by almost four seconds, another "never been done before" event for the men.

In the varsity racing the women's 3V cruised to a powerful 27 second win over McLean and looks to be a favorite for a medal going into the lower boat championship regatta May 5.

The men's 3V was a close match-up among the favorites for medals with St. Albans handing the Patriot 3V its first loss against a VASRA opponent in a close and tough race with STA on top at 4:50.6, YHS at 4:53.5, and McLean way back at 5:11.1.

The women's 2V race for YHS was tough, with Whitman and McLean battling to the finish before Whitman emerged with a one second victory while the Patriot 8 finished 10 seconds back. In the B final, the YHS gals topped Wilson easily by more than 10 seconds.

The men's 2V was a rematch of the McLean lightweight 8 and the YHS 2V, with Whitman 2V in the mix as well. The Patriot 8 got off to a good start and held the lead going into the 500 meter mark, but hit a boat wake and faltered a bit and the McLean lights scooted by and ended up holding on after a furious sprint by the YHS crew with the finish going McLean 4:50.1, YHS 4:53.6, and Whitman trailing at 5:00.0. The YHS crew still advanced into the afternoon second round with St. Albans and McLean. STA is the only VASRA 2V to best the Patriot 2V so far this year, but the margin was big, with the Bulldogs chugging home in a blistering 4:41.5, the McLean lights at 4:50.4 and YHS at 4:55.4. Pending its performance at the Charlie Butt Regatta this coming weekend, STA and YHS could go into States ranked first and second.

The two 1V rounds for boys and girls saw some great racing by very fast crews. The St. Albans boys 1V, defending Stotesbury and VASRA champs, looked primed for a repeat with a blistering 4:22.6 in the final round versus a game YHS crew that went 4:32.9 to finish second, open water up on Whitman at 4:38.8. The YHS boys had earlier topped both Whitman and McLean in the morning round by more than a length.

The girls 1V match of Whitman, McLean and YHS was a classic grudge match. Both Whitman and YHS pushed out well up on McLean and went into the final 500 neck and neck. Whitman prevailed barely by about half a length in a time of 5:14.2, with YHS at 5:15.9, and McLean well back at 5:22.9. This was a great showing by the YHS women against a non-VASRA opponent. In the second race in the afternoon, NCS joined the mix with Whitman and YHS and put on a great race that left the rivals from the morning more than a length back. The Patriot women's V8 keeps improving week to week and going into what will be a tough but critical rematch with Madison and NCS this coming week at CBR, the Lady Patriots are looking to earn a top six ranking going into States with a strong showing this coming Saturday.

"I just cannot say enough about our freshman and novice　crews this year," commented Head Coach Andy Bacas. "Coaches Steve Cauffman and Heather Young have done a marvelous job getting these athletes ready for this season and the crews themselves are showing some great courage and speed against some fast opponents. Both freshman and novice crews should be favorites for medals at Ted Phoenix on May 5."

Full results can be found at http://www.row2k.com/results/

Bishop O’Connell, Washington-Lee and Yorktown high schools raced Saturday in the first All-Arlington tri-meet. The crews were competing for the newly established Arlington Cup, which will be presented each year by the family of Tim Conroy, a recently deceased O'Connell coach, as a memorial to their son.

With warm weather and flat water, there were many great races, but fittingly the top races were between the schools first 8s, on both the girls and boys sides.

Washington-Lee, coming off a bronze medal performance at Nationals last year in the boys junior 8, has all nine members of that superb crew back this year. Probably the fastest W-L first varsity since 2007, this year's eight came to race, primed and ready. O'Connell, likely sporting its best boys varsity 8 ever, was equally eager to show its speed. The third contender, Yorktown, was determined to hold on against this tough field.

The boys 1V race lived up to expectations, with all three crews overlapped for much of the first 1000 meters of the course. Yorktown came off the starting platform with a slight lead, but the smooth rowing W-L crew had taken it all back by the 750 meter mark under Key Bridge. The lead crews battled through the middle 500 essentially even, with O'Connell fading a bit over the last half. At 500 to go, YHS had edged back into a very slight advantage of 1-2 seats over W-L. At about 300 meters to go YHS coxswain Calvin Pollard called for the pre-planned sprint sequence and his crew answered. The Patriot crew found a bit more over the last 30 strokes of the race, pushing its lead to 5-6 seats and finishing 2.8 seconds up on W-L and 10 seconds up on O’Connell.

The girls 1V race was a dual match up between Yorktown and O'Connell, which had a terrific fall season, finishing fourth at the Head of the Occoquan. In this race, too, the crews were overlapped from start to finish. Both crews came off the start even, with Yorktown only pushing out into the lead in the middle 500 meters of the race. The Patriot women capitalized on their small advantage at 500 to go and pushed their margin out to 2.6 seconds at the finish—another barn-burner!

The first year's Arlington Cup 1V races had both been a classic battles of old rivals, side by side the whole way. So close that on another day the results might have been different.
 
Looking down the road to the Virginia state championships May 12, both the W-L and Yorktown boys crews should be in contention for medals. The last, and only time, both schools medaled in the boys 1V state championship race was in 2007, when Yorktown took silver behind the great TJ crew of that year and W-L out-raced McLean for bronze.

On the girls side the mountain may be higher as Madison, coming off a silver medal performance at the U.S. youth championships last June, seems a dominant force at the top of VASRA, with other fast crews from National Cathedral to Thomas Jefferson racing to keep up. However, it is still four weeks to the big show down at Occoquan and much can happen between now and then.

In the lower varsity races, Yorktown's crews dominated with both the boy's and girl's 2V and 3V eights winning by a length or more. Yorktown also won the girl's freshman 8 and 2nd 4.

W-L triumphed in the girls varsity 4, girls novice 8, boys freshman 8 (in a 1 second win over YHS) and novice 4.

O'Connell notched wins in the boys varsity 4 and novice 8 (with the biggest margin of the day).

The strength and speed shown by the freshman and novice crews at both W-L and O'Connell bode well for future Arlington Cup varsity match-ups.

Yorktown Coach Andy Bacas summed up the morning by saying, "The Arlington rowing community really came together in fine fashion today. The parents and coaches from all three schools helped set up a marked race course with a starting platform for the crews to race on, the volunteers ran the schedule right on time, the kids raced incredibly hard, Mother Nature gave us a great weather day and the families put out a fantastic spread of food and drink. We organized and ran this regatta essentially ourselves and it turned out to be a splendid event all-around. It was a great kick-off for what we hope will be a long tradition of match races between these schools. All of us who rowed for Charlie Butt at W-L know that he would have been very pleased with what happened today. He was the father of all Arlington high school rowing and he would have really enjoyed the close and competitive racing."

A tired, battered, but game group of Yorktown boys and their parents made the trek up to beautiful St. Andrews School in Middletown, DE, for the second Noxontown Pond Regatta of the 2012 season the morning after returning from spring training at Camp Bob Cooper in Summerton, SC. Yorktown raced in the third, second and first varsity eight races.
 
The weather was great for spectating, sunny and comfortable in the low to mid 60's, but with a strong cross-headwind that was gusting to 25 knots.
 
Competing in the boy's events were the host St Andrews School, Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School, West Springfield High School and Ocean City High School of New Jersey.
 
The 3V was the first boat to row for Yorktown, drawing the more difficult and windy lane 3 for the race. TBC rival BCC drew the wind-sheltered lane 1 on the far side of the race course. The fiery Yorktown crew, led by stroke-man Jeremy Nussbaum, rocketed off the line at more than 40 strokes a minute and took the lead through the first 500 meters. By the midpoint at 750 meters the wind began to take its toll on the Patriots, and the Barons, rowing in the smoother waters in lane 1, began to creep up. Through the windiest part of the course the BCC crew took the lead and pushed out to an open water margin, winning the race by 10 seconds, but the tough YHS 3V held on to second, 13 big seconds up on St Andrews, Ocean City and West Springfield. The only other VASRA school in the race, West Springfield, was 25 seconds behind our charging 3V, setting our crew up as a favorite to repeat as Virginia state champs for the 3rd year in a row. It is fair to note that BCC is a year-round program that will not participate in the VASRA lower boar championships May 5.
 
Next up for Yorktown was the 2V, fresh off a stunning upset of perennial rival and powerhouse Thomas Jefferson at the Occoquan race on March 31. Stroked by junior Sam Gallerano, the powerful YHS 2V drew the lucky assignment of lane 1 and made the most of it. They pushed out to an early lead on BCC and never relinquished it, opening up an open water margin of six seconds at the finish with a big sprint. The only blemish on their stellar performance was giving up the lead to the lightweight first varsity crew from Ocean City. The OC lightweights sprinted by the Patriots with about 400 meters to go, but the YHS crew took almost all of Ocean City’s lead back in the last 20 strokes and came up just short of a pure win, finishing 0.6 seconds behind the determined OC lightweight crew. SAS, a Stotes medalist in the 2V last year, was seven seconds back of the leaders, with West Springfield well back, 51 seconds off the blistering pace. Again the YHS crew is looking to be one the favorites for a state title at the VASRA championships May 12.
 
Our 1V has been struggling with a series of injuries and illnesses that have kept some of our best athletes out of our top crew. This week was no exception with stroke-man Andrew Knizner out with an illness and 1V candidate Josh Doyon out with an injury. Not missing a beat, however, Ben Vihstadt slipped down from his usual spot at 6 to stroke for this weekend's race and Sam Gallerano rowed twice, filling in at the 4 seat after stroking the 2V to its "technical win". After some stellar rowing and hard seat racing in South Carolina, the Patriot 1V was a bit worn down, but was tuned up and sharp for this early season contest with two Stotesbury finalist crews from last year. SAS was last year's Stotesbury silver medalist and Henley Royal Regatta runner up. The Patriots again were assigned an outside lane, lane 2 in this case, with SAS in lane 3 and BCC in lane 4. By far the lightest of the three crews, the YHS boys nonetheless blasted off the line into an early lead that they held until about 1000 meters, at which point the big bodies of the other crews and the tired legs from a week of 3-a-days began to tell. St Andrews pushed out to a length-plus lead in the last 500 meters and BCC pushed their nose ahead of the dogged Patriot 8 in the last 300. At the finish it was St Andrews first at 4:57.1, BCC second at 5:01.6 and YHS at 5:05.4. Just as a point of reference, the other VASRA crew, West Springfield, was again a good distance back at 5:33.6.
 
In summary, it was a good showing for a tired and limited Patriot squad. The YHS 2V time of 5:04.9 was actually faster than the 1V time of 5:05.4, owing perhaps to differing wind conditions, but indicative of the kind of depth and potential for the whole team. With more talent due to flow back into the Patriot ranks over the coming weeks, continued line-up refinement, improved stamina and technical attention, the 2012 YHS men’s team is not yet at full speed. With four weeks until Ted Phoenix, five weeks to States, and seven weeks to Nationals, the team has a lot of training ahead of it--and looks forward to using all of it.

Yorktown High School’s Crew made an impressive showing at its first full regatta of the year.  Racing against over twenty schools from across the area in the Regional Park Regatta on the Occoquan River at Sandy Run Park on Saturday March 31, Yorktown’s boats on both the women’s and men’s sides had a successful outing.
 
Yorktown competed in 13 events, and took home six first place finishes, and a second place.  On the men’s side, the Second Varsity boat, or “2V” placed first in both its heat and the final.  The men’s Freshmen boat, also won its heat, and placed first in the final.  The 3V boat won its heat (no final was held), as did the 4th/Novice “A” boat.  The 1V won its heat, and placed a close fourth in the final.  The Men’s 4th/Novice “B” boat, and Junior Eight boat rounded out the Yorktown field on the men’s side, finishing fifth, and fourth in their respective heats.

On the women’s side, the Freshmen boat won its heat, and placed first in the final.  The 4th/Novice boat won its heat (no final was held), and the 3V placed a strong second in its final.  The women’s 1V placed third in its heat, less than a second behind the third place finisher, and the 2V placed fifth in its heat.  The women’s Junior Four boat placed fourth in its competition to round out the racing on the women’s side.
 
Head coach Andy Bacas was pleased with the effort by Yorktown, but stressed that it is early in the season.  “We were happy with our racing on Saturday on all levels.  We had an impressive showing for our first full event of the season.  But it was only our first event , and we will look to continue to improve from here.” Women’s coach Carol Dinion added, “Our ladies raced hard and performed well. Our goal every year is to continue to improve and peak at the end of the season for the state and national events. We’re on track to do well if we continue to work hard.” The team is spending its Spring Break training at Camp Bob in Summerton, South Carolina.  Its next full regatta is the Arlington Cup, on the Potomac in Georgetown on April 14.  Yorktown will be competing against Washington and Lee and Bishop O’Connell in an intra-county matchup.