Invitational Photos Available

See Wayland-Weston Invitational Regatta photos at  Joe Provenzano’s Repechange Photography site, http://repechage.smugmug.com/.

Other news of interest…

• Town Crier Sports Correspondents Margo Cox and Henry Gula recap in fine journalistic fashion a memorable week of fours and eights racing in which we hosted top-flight crews including National Championship gold, silver and bronze medalists:
  • “Wayland-Weston boys crew faces the iron,” http://www.wickedlocal.com/weston/sports/x289800414/Wayland-Weston-boys-crew-faces-the-iron
  • “Wayland-Weston girls crew pitted against elite,” http://www.wickedlocal.com/wayland/sports/x1560843604/Wayland-Weston-girls-crew-pitted-against-elite
• Wayland voters this week have an opportunity to green-light the Recreation Department’s plans for a new beach house at Town Beach.  Mark your calendar for voting this Tuesday and Thursday, more info at Wayland eNews http://waylandenews.com/wordpress/elections-2010/debt-exclusion-beach-house-plans/, Friends of Wayland Town Beach, http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/group.php?gid=163444251118, or contact Recreation Director Nancy McShea, nmcshea@wayland.ma.us or 508.358-3662.
• Join us for this month’s meeting of the Friends of Cochituate State Park, Wednesday, May 12, 6-7 p.m. at State Park HQ, 93 Commonwealth Road (Rt. 30), Wayland.  Refreshments will be served.  Visit the Friends at http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/group.php?gid=205398925526.
• Mike Lowery and the Wayland Surface Water Quality Committee continue their excellent work, in partnership with DCR, Natick, Framingham and others to keep North Pond free of Eurasian milfoil.  Check out the latest progress at  http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/pages/Wayland-MA/Wayland-Surface-Water-Quality-Committee/112331025458392.
• If you missed last month’s live broadcast of The Boat Race on BBC America, or if you’d like to see Oxford and Cambridge go at it again, the Beeb has posted streaming video of the race, which runs about 19 minutes, at http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/other_sports/rowing/8601964.stm.

As the cold of March gives way to April and the spring, so marks the beginning of another season for the Wayland-Weston rowing team. Beginning practices officially in mid-March, the team begins their spring racing schedule in mid-April.

The beginning of the season consists of scrimmages and time trials in order to test boat speed, lineups, and many other factors that will eventually go into the formation of several competitive boats hoping to make an impact on the regional and national level.

On Sunday, the first of these unofficial races took place at Lake Cochituate in Wayland. Wayland-Weston’s varsity boys hosted teams from Lowell High School and Essex Rowing Club for some early season head-to-head time trials.

The W-W men’s first varsity 8+ finished first over the 1500-meter race course with a time of 4:56, followed by Essex at 5:04 and Lowell at 5:25. The W-W second and third varsity boats finished with times of 5:13 and 5:25, respectively, in their event. They were followed by Lowell’s second boat at 5:46.  These early results show promise for a strong season, with the second and third boats once again showing the team’s depth and prospects for the future.

Despite the team being younger than average (there was only one senior in the first boat), W-W is looking to continue to build success and uphold its reputation as a perennial powerhouse, without going through a “rebuilding” year.

Head coach Brian DeDominici was pleased with the day, saying, “It was great to have Essex and Lowell out for some early season trials. I thought each boat did very well and was able to gain some valuable experience for our next race.”

The team will have another scrimmage race next weekend before traveling to Saratoga, New York, for their first official regatta

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

From Matt:

Hi Everyone,
Hope your weeks are going well! This past weekend the entire team traveled to Shelton, CT for Head of the Housatonic. For the varsity this was their second race of the fall season, for the novice it was slated to be their first, more on that later.
The AM racing had the girls racing in two 4’s placing 2nd (silver) and 12th out of 25 boats. The highlight of morning racing was the Boys strong performance in the 8’s placing 1st, 9th, and 20th of 36 boats!
The afternoon had the girls 8’s finishing 6th, 12th, and 15th of 26 crews. The Boys furthered their success from the morning racing with 2nd and 12th place finishes out of 26 crews in the Varsity 4!
Unfortunately the extremely rough conditions and strong headwind forced regatta officials to cancel all HS novice racing, but the novice squads gained an appreciation for the effect of weather on racing but gained valuable experience in regards to regatta atmosphere.
Next up is Head of the Charles for select Varsity crews, more to come on that later today or tomorrow.

–Matt

From Matt:

Hi Everyone,
This past Sunday the weather forecast called for a bit of rain and cloudy skies, amazing how wrong weather.com can be! The day was bright, sunny, and with flat water ideal for the first head race of the season for our varsity squads in Lowell on the Merrimack River. Wayland- Weston raced a total of twelve crews in four events, coming away with two sets of gold medals, two sets of silver medals, and some fantastic racing and placement on all accounts.
Morning racing featured the Men’s and Women’s Junior 4’s. In the Men’s Junior 4+ our crews placed 1st and 19th of 37 crews. The gold medal crew edged out Community Rowing of Boston by just .2 seconds for the win!
In the Girls Junior 4+ we placed 2nd, 4th, and 9th of 26 boats. This event featured some very strong competition from perennial NEIRA contender and nationals medalist Winsor, along with CRI of Boston.
The afternoon lead way for the Varsity 8’s, of which all 7 crews performed very well across the board. The Boys lead the way with a 1st, 8th, and 26th place finish out of 36 crews. The “A” boat won by 10 seconds over Chaminade, and the “B” boat was the fastest “B” entry by 7 seconds over Chaminde’s “B” boat defeating the “A” crews from St. John’s and Shrewsbury in the process.
The final race of the day for W/W was the Women’s Varsity 8+ in which our crews showed quite a bit of speed in placing 2nd, 11th, 13th, and 16th out of 30 entries! Although encountering a bit of intereference our “A” boat clocked in at 15:55, about 12 seconds behind the CRI “A” entry. Most notable for the girls though is the overall team performance in placing 3 crews in the top half and one crew missing by the narrowest of margins!

Complete results can be found at www.powerhousetiming.com

Look forward to seeing you all at the Housatonic next Saturday, a complete information e-mail will be sent out either Wednesday or Thursday.

–Matt