Tag: 2025

May 10-11, 2025

Look at me representing my school at states in the doubles category!

Day 1 was about racing in the quad boat in the men’s varsity 4x. We were the first boat down the course, setting the pace for everyone else. The morning races were time trials, with each boat going off every 10 seconds. We finished 7th in time trials, which got us into the finals.

In the finals, the top 10 boats raced together with a full start. We fought hard and earned a bronze medal. We were proud of that, but also disappointed that we missed a chance to go to nationals—only the top 2 boats qualified.

Day 2 was for smaller boats, and I raced in a double. Same format: time trials in the morning and finals in the afternoon. We finished 23rd overall and 11th among schools. It wasn’t our best result, but it was good to compete at this level.

This was officially my last race on the Saratoga Fish Creek. I’m happy with how it ended, and I said goodbye to Saratoga feeling good about it. I’ve seen this course in every kind of weather, and now it’s time to leave it to my teammates.

Results:

• Mens Varsity 4x – 3rd
• Mens Varsity 2x – 23/11

April 26-27, 2025

This year’s East Coast Clash of Titans, the first regatta of the spring season, definitely delivered on the drama—mostly thanks to classic upstate New York weather. First, it was dry. Then it rained. Then it rained harder. And just when everyone was drenched and over it, the sun decided to show up for a minute.

I raced in the bow seat of the quad boat both days, and I stuck with that position throughout the regatta. We tried different boats and some different lineups, but I stayed in my spot to keep things consistent and get the best results possible in real race conditions.

To be honest, our boats aren’t exactly in the best shape this year, and the weather made it hard to get as much practice on the river as we wanted. As a team, we all know we’ve got some tough competition coming up this season—but hey, bring it on.

Results:

• 4/26/2025 – racing on Carolina 7th
• 4/27/2025 – racing on Sutton 4th

April 2025

---

Well, this spring season we’re definitely in a pickle. Last fall, we had four senior boys in the team, which made a perfect quad. Now we’re down to just three.

In rowing, three is not a good number. You can’t make a boat with three people.

And you definitely can’t just blend the three seniors into other high school boats. If you put a senior in any boat, it automatically gets bumped up to the senior/varsity category. That means racing against tougher competition—usually U19 teams.

So the only option is to move a junior or sophomore into the senior boat to fill the fourth seat. But that’s a double whammy. First, the younger rower has to be close in size to a senior, otherwise the boat will be unbalanced. And second, if the underclassman is as strong as a senior, then that’s one less key rower for the junior boat.

You might be wondering: Why did the other senior leave? Because most seniors want to ease up in their last semester of high school or focus on their AP classes.

Then you might ask: Why are you still there? Because I’m in it till the end. I didn’t come this far to quit now. I want that last medal, to earn the right to say I did it.