By Julien Mahler, Robert Richards and Aaron Sege, 2013-2014 Boys Varsity Captains
After a grueling winter training season that began in November, Brookline rowers left our high school’s basement and flew to Georgia to begin our spring season in February. Rowing on Lake Lanier, the 1996 Olympic course, we practiced sculling and sweeping in all boat classes before scrimmaging against Arlington-Belmont, who had also come down for the school vacation week. All Brookline boats won.
We kicked off the racing season on April 6 with our only race on the Charles. All four boys boats beat Hingham. The two girls boats both lost to Hingham but beat Boston Latin, retaining the First Salvo Sup. At the Andover-Exeter Invitational on Lake Quinsigamond two weeks later, the boys first boat achieved a huge upset by knocking down Andover, finishing in second behind Exeter in a very close race. The following week was the Lake Quinsigamond Cup hosted by Saint John’s, which both the boys and girls first boats won.
We had a very strong showing at the USRowing Northeast Regional Championships, our Nationals qualifier. Of our boats, the girls quad and four both made it to the semifinals. The boys heavy four made it to the semifinals and the boys light eight finished fourth in the finals, just short of a Nationals berth.
Both the light four, consisting of Adam Rintell ‘13, Julien Mahler ‘14, Cam Chiasson ‘13, Jacob Anmahian ‘13 and coxswain Max Condon ‘13 and the light double, consisting of Jack Ruske ‘13 and Jordi Cabanas ‘15 won gold, easily qualifying for Nationals in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.
Both the boys and the girls qualified all of their varsity eights for NEIRA Champaionships nad raced against the fastest schools in New England. The girls first boat came in fourth in the petite finals, and boys came in third.
The Massachusetts Public School Rowing Association Championship was our culminating race as a team. The race course was shortened from 1500m to around 1200m due to a very strong tailwind, making all the races very fast and close. In the finals, the girls third boat came in fourth, and their second and first boats both came in fifth. The boys first, second and third boats all captured silver medals.
Nationals, in Tennessee, was the last race for the seniors in Brookline colors–a graduation of sorts from Brookline Rowing. Alas, those who went had to forego Brookline High School’s official graduation, which was the same weekend. The light four did considerably well, placing fourth in the C final. The double, who placed first in their heat and semifinal, did no different at the Grand Final, speeding down the course to win first place and be crowned fastest light double in America.
