From: Matt: The final regatta of this fall came on Sunday (Oct. 25, 2009) in Worcester. Wayland-Weston returned to Lake Quinsigamond to defend its fall MPSRA state title. In the end, Wayland-Weston came away with four crew state titles: the girls team points trophy, boys team points trophy, and overall team points trophy.

Wayland Weston Crew at State Championships, Fall 09
Video features shots of each Wayland-Weston Crew team as they crossed the finish line in the Fall 2009 Mass. Public Schools Rowing Association Regatta in Worcester, MA, Sunday, October 25th.
Videography and production by Joe Vitagliano, Wayland

The Results:
Starting the day were the boys novice 8’s placing 1st and 7th of 10 crews. The boys “A” boat dominated the event, completing the course in 14:12.72, besting 2nd place Duxbury by 50 seconds! The boys “B” entry bested all “B” entries, the “A” entry from Medford, and were 2 and 5 seconds off of “A” entries from Hingham and Shrewsbury.
Next up were the novice girls, placing 2nd and 10th of 12 crews. The novice “A” boat showed tremendous improvement in just one day closing 32 seconds on Bromfield from the previous day. The “B” crew place 10th besting crews from Lowell and Medford.
Immediately following the girls novice 8’s were the Boys and Girls Varsity 4’s. The Boys 4+ finished in 3rd place with a bronze medal behind Worcester and Duxbury.
The Girls race two varsity 4’s, finishing 1st and 5th of 13. The “A” entry passed defending champions Cambridge Rindge and Latin and bested 2nd place Lowell by 40 seconds! The “B” boat finishing 5th rowed a very strong race beating all “B” entries and a number of “A” boats.
The Boys raced 3 varsity 8’s placing 1st, 5th, and 9th of 15 crews. The V8 took home the state title in a time of 18:49, winning by 6 seconds. The “B” entry bested all “B” crews and a number of “A” boats. The “C” entry was the fastest “C” crew and would have placed third among “B” entries.
Finishing the day were the Girls varsity 8’s finishing 1st, 6th, and 10th of 12 entries. The 1st V8 ran away with the win in a time of 20:36.7, besting 2nd place Lowell by nearly 47 seconds. The “B” entry was the fastest “B” boat by over a minute, and the “C” crew (the only C entry in the event) finishing 10th bested “B” crews from Shrewsbury and Worcester.

State Championship Crews:

• Boys 1st Novice 8+
• Boys 1st Varsity 8+
• Girls Varsity 4+
• Girls Varsity 8+

Boys Team State Champions

Girls Team State Champions

Overall 2009 Team Fall State Champions

A great end to an extremely successful fall season, see everyone in the spring!
–Matt

From Matt:

Hi Everyone,
Well, the fall season is now over and the final weekend certainly came with its share of great racing and significant adversity. Head of the Fish provided it’s traditional fare of cold and rainy weather complemented by a lot of mud and overflowed parking. As many of you know, one of the buses broke down on the trip home, I would like to thank all of the rowers and parents on behalf of the coaching staff for your patience, understanding, and maturity (the rowers were terrific and extraordinarily well behaved) during the entire ordeal.
On to the results:
Starting off the day were the boys and girls novice 8’s both competing in their first regatta. Both crews finished in 6th place out of 20 and 22 teams respectively. The boys bested strong crews from Fairport, Canisius, and Chaminade. The girls did the same with crews from Saratoga, Norwalk, and St. Anthony’s.
Up next following a thunderstorm delay which they spent in the Skidmore college boathouse was the girls lightweight 4. With a time of 12:51.03 the lightweights added some gold medals and the 1st of 2 fish heads won Saturday to be displayed in the W/W boathouse. Next was the Boys Varsity 4+, who placed 3rd in an event of 30 crews. The boys also spent the delay at the Skidmore boathouse.
The afternoon had the girls and boys 8’s racing in the 1V, 2V, and 3V events on both sides. The girls 1V placed 4th; 10 seconds behind winner Saratoga and 3 seconds behind 3rd place CRI. The girls 2V brought home a bronze medal, finishing ahead of 4th place West Side RC of Buffalo by 1 second for the medals. Finishing off the day for the girls was the 3V who placed 4th of 7 in a time of 13:06.
The Boys varsity 8’s all brought home medals. The 1V finished 3rd behind CRI and St. Catherines with a time of 10:36. The 2V finished 2nd behind Canisius and ahead of CRI with a time of 11:06. Rounding out the day and bringing home the other fish head trophy awarded to first place finishers were the boys of the 3V. They ran the course in 11:18 besting CRI by 1 second for the win!

More to come on Sunday’s MPSRA regatta.

–Matt

From Matt:

Hi Everyone,
This past Sunday four Wayland- Weston crews competed in the prestigious Head of the Charles regatta. The weather of course was less than cooperative; temperatures were technically in the low 40’s but with the wind, rain, and later on snow felt much colder! Despite the weather the four W/W crews posted some solid results and achieved some very high placements.
First up was the Boys Youth 4+, racing in a field of 75 the boys placed 59th. Following that was the Girls Youth 4+ at 10:46. The girls squad did not have a 4+ at Head of the Charles in 2008, by finishing 38th of 77 the crew’s place in the top half earned a guaranteed bid in this event for 2010!
Also earning guaranteed bids for next year were the Boys and Girls Youth 8’s. Coming out of the lottery the Boys 8 continued a very strong fall season placing 15th of 79. The Boys 8 bested crews from powerhouse programs Chaminade, Canisius, and St. John’s of Shrewsbury with a time of 16:16.668 over the course.
Immediately following the Boys were the Girls Youth 8’s. After a 2nd place finish to CRI at the Textile the Girls 8 was looking to have a strong performance through rowing their best race of the fall thus far. With a time of 17:53.8 the 8+ matched Wayland-Weston’s best-ever performance at Head of the Charles with a 7th place finish of 74 crews. With that finish the Girls 8+ put crews from New Trier, Marin, Sammamish, and St. Catherines behind them in the standings.
As the largest regatta in the world Head of the Charles is a great showcase of skill and speed, in addition to the ability to avoid obstacles and crashes! The Wayland- Weston squad had a succesful day garnering two top 20 finishes, a top 10 finish, and 3 guaranteed entries for 2010!
Next weekend is the final of the fall season, Saturday is Head of the Fish followed on Sunday by the MPSRA State Championship Regatta. More to come on those in the next day or so.

–Matt