This year the YHS crew had one of its strongest showings ever at the 84th Annual Stotesbury Cup Regatta in Philadelphia.  We were unsuccessful in breaking into the coveted "Final Six" in any category, but we qualified more crews for the semi-finals than last year (and perhaps ever) and the athletes were able to see tangible evidence that the long regimen of training followed this year is paying dividends in speed. The team entered crews in the Women's Senior 8, Second 8, Freshman 8, Junior 4 and Light 4 and on the men's side in the Senior 8, Second 8, Junior 8 and Freshman 8.

After a furious first day of time trials, that included over 900 crews, FIVE Yorktown crews qualified to race again in the semis.  These included the Men's Frosh 8 (18th), the Men's Junior 8 (14th), the Women's 2nd 8 (11th),  Men's 1V (12th) and Women's 1V (13th).

Not qualifying, but putting forth a valiant effort, was our Men's 3V rowing in the 2nd 8 category. For most of this crew it was their first Stotesbury and they distinguished themselves finishing 19th in this 26 crew event.

For a bit of perspective for the two 1Vs, here is the order of finish in the time trials for some local DC crews:

Men's 1V:   St Albans (4:33.7) {Eventual 2010 Silver Medalist}, Gonzaga (4:40.7) {2009 Silver Medalist}, Thomas Jefferson (4:42.0) {4th in Grand Final}, Yorktown (4:45.7), BCC (4:47.5), Wilson (4:49.1), Washington-Lee (4:51.6), Oakton (4:56.9), Walt Whitman (5:00.02),  Bishop Ireton (5:01.7), Forest Park (5:02.4).

Our crews are getting very close to Stotes finalist level and are moving faster than the bulk of our local competition, even though we remain a spring-only program.

The Semis saw our Men's Junior 8 come within 2 seconds of third place Gonzaga. In a furious sprint, that almost got them fourth ahead of Christian Brothers Academy our J8 really showed some guts coming by the tents and grandstand, but the Patriot Juniors had to settle for a close fifth.  At the Charlie Butt Regatta on April 24, that same Gonzaga crew was 7 seconds up on our Junior 8.

Our Women's Second 8 raced a great piece from Lane 6, but finished 5th, beating Radnor in Lane 1, a great achievement for any Stotes Lane 6 crew.  The eventual silver medalist crew from National Cathedral won the event.   Yorktown's Women's 2V did not make the Semis at Stotes last year. 

Next up was the Men's Senior 8.  Lining up with the Patriots in the first Semi were crews from Shaker HS, St Andrews, St Joes Prep, TJ and Mainland HS.  TJ got off to the best start, with St Andrews close behind, but it was the St Joes crew that took the race over in the middle 500 and won by about a length over TJ who had only one seat on St Andrews. Yorktown was 5 seconds back on TJ in fourth, 7 seconds back of St Joes, about a length up on Shaker and Mainland.  The 1V Men were also fourth in their semi last year, also 7 seconds out of first and 5.5 seconds out of qualifying.

In the last semi of the day for Yorktown, the YHS women lined up against crews from Holy Spirit, Mount St Joseph, National Cathedral, Atlantic City, and Oakton.  The Patriot women fought hard and were only 5 seconds back on Holy Spirit who qualled in second but 12 seconds back on the eventual event winner Mt St Joes.  Last year the YHS Women's Senior 8 was also fourth, 9.4 seconds out of first and 7 seconds out of qualifying.

The marginal differences are small, but both the 1Vs were closer to making the final six this year than last.  Except for TJ, which is of course a special case, the only crews that proved out faster than our varsity crews in their Stotes Semis in 2010 were private schools.

In the Men's Junior 8 Final, the order of finish was St Joes Prep, Chaminade, Churchill, Absegami, La Salle, and Upper Canada.

In the Women's Second 8 Finals, the order of finish was Mt St Joes, TC Williams, National Cathedral, Holy Spirit, Winter Park and Atlantic City.

In the Men's Senior 8 Finals, the order of finish was St Joes, St Albans, Winter Park (Florida), TJ, The McCallie School of Chattanooga, TN and St Augustine.

In the Women's Senior 8 Finals, the order of finish was Mt St Joes, Merion Mercy Academy, Radnor, E. L. Crossley (Canada), Holy Spirit and Winter Park.

We had great weather at Stotes this year and all of the Yorktown rowing community in attendance had a great time cheering on our hard charging athletes.  

5 qualifying crews in 2010 and hopefully growing to 6 next year!!