Throughout the winter season, the Crew team prepares with indoor workouts for the spring season. Spring is Crew’s main season and the winter preseason leads right into a hard spring to help great ready for the State Championships in Saratoga May 14-15th 2022. According to Head Coach Patrick Clary, “In the fall, the races are much longer (6000m), and have a lower tempo. In the spring, the races are only 1500m long, and are adrenaline packed races, with heart rates commonly exceeding 180-190bpm.” These types of races help define the fall and spring season, so rowers know what to expect. In the spring, races are quick and head to head, instead of the “time trial environment” similar to what is done in the fall.
After a great season, with all teams consistently getting better times in scrimmages and regattas, the Crew team headed upstate to Saratoga to compete in the State Championships. In the State Championships, every boat races a time trial and the top boats enter the Grand Finals. The number of boats that qualify for the Grand Finals depends on how many boats each team entered for the day. The Saint Anthony’s Crew team entered six boats into four races: two boats for Varsity Boys 8, two Varsity Girls 8, one Novice Girls 8, and one Novice Boys 8. Varsity boys, Varsity girls, and Novice boys all made it into the Grand Finals, and the second Varsity boys boat placed third overall, beating schools like Riverdale Country School.
This was the final race of the season, and for the Seniors, their final race as Friars, representing the Black and Gold. The Senior athletes have worked tirelessly over their four years at Saint Anthony’s, sacrificing many things to be on the team. Senior Ella Bianculli, who rowed for all four years while she was at Saint Anthony’s said, “Crew is great for learning discipline and commitment… there are no substitutes. If you aren’t there your boat can’t go out. It’s just a different level of commitment.”
As part of the crew team, the Seniors are good examples of how to be good teammates and good rowers. From both the team and school, we appreciate the work the Seniors did to help the team and the school be better. The entire Crew team has worked hard this year, and we know another group of strong athletes will join the team and help us continue to have another strong spring in 2023.
Michael Venture is a freshman in his first year as a member of the Scoreboard Club. He is part of Crew and several clubs at St. Anthony’s
