The Lowell High School Crew Team headed downriver to Methuen for the kick-off of the 2011 Fall season with their first regatta, the Head of the Merrimack. Teams included rowing clubs and high school rowing teams from New Hampshire and Massachusetts launching over 100 boats in a compressed 3 hours of continuous racing on the 4 mile course.  Lowell’s varsity and novice teams raced 9 boats which included a first place finish by Men’s varsity coach Jess Murray in the Women’s Open 1x.

Lowell’s Women’s Varsity 8 A dominated with a gold medal performance, besting the Concord Crew’s time by almost 30 seconds.  The Women’s Jr. Ltwt 4 placed second behind Concord Crew.  The Men’s Jr 4 finished fourth in a field of nine with a solid performance.

There were strong performances from the other boats Lowell High launched, but they weren’t quite enough to get to the medal stands. For many of the novice rowers and their families, the experience of competing in their first regatta was really what Sunday was all about.

Lowell looks forward to hosting the 32^nd Textile River Regatta on the Merrimack this Sunday on Oct. 2nd with over 3, 000 rowers participating.

Medal Winner:

Women’s First Varsity 8: Sabrina Maceachern, Stephanie Beaudry, Haley Clarke, Lauren Thistle, Lauren Blazon, Sarita, Natalia Czerwonka, Kate Keller, and Coxswain Sara Vargas.

Races

Mens Jr. 8+                   6^th  Lowell A       22.06.00

      8^th  Lowell B          22.46.00

      16^th Lowell C          31.01.00

Womens Jr. 4+              6^th Lowell               29.16.00

Womens Jr. Ltwt 4+       2^nd Lowell               27.35.00

Womens Jr. 8+              1^st Lowell A              23.53.00

      9^th Lowell B              26.48.00

Mens Jr 4                      4^th Lowell                   23.59.00

Fall 2011 is HERE! Important Dates are listed below. 

August 25- First day of practice for all RETURNING ROWERS (rowers who have been on the team for at least one season). Practice is at noon until 4pm (hopefully sooner).  Please bring your permission slips and running sneakers.

August 31- Crew meeting for all NOVICE ROWERS (rowers who are trying out for the team for the first time).  After school in the Big Cafe.

September 1- Swim Test for all NOVICE ROWERS

September 6- Varsity Parents Meeting at 6:00pm at the Boathouse

September 12- Novice Parents Meeting at 6:00pm at the Boathouse

September 25- Head of the Merrimack- Methuen MA

October 2- Textile River Regatta- Lowell MA

October 9- New England Junior & High School Regional Championship Regatta- Worcester MA

October 16- New Hampshire Championships- Pembroke NH

October 22/ 23- Head of the Charles- Boston MA

October 29- Head of the Fish- Saratoga Springs NY

October 30- MPSRA State Championships- Worcester MA

See everyone very soon! Please email or text with any questions.

Coach Jess

Saratoga lineups

12:44pm Event #21 women's lightweight 8+

cox:Miranda Stroke:Sabrina, Anna, Natalia, Corinne, Aly Burgess, Hilary, Gravlin, bow:Saba

1:16pm Event #23 women's varsity 8+

cox:sara  Stroke:Erinn, stephanie, hailey, kendra, brittany b, bryana, blazon, bow: thistle

2:04pm Event #29 women's junior varsity 4+

cox:miranda stroke: Lina, brittany m, lyndsey, bow:emily

3:56 pmEvent #30 women's varsity 4+

cox: sara  stroke: Erinn, stephanie, Hailey, bow: Thistle

2:52pm Event #36 Women's lightweight 4+

cox: sara Stroke: Sabrina, Anna, Natalia, bow: Corinne

6:20pm Event #37 women's JV8+

cox: Kate Stroke: Gravlin, liz, kiara, Idalia, Amanda, monique, michelle, bow: Katrina

6:44pm Event # 38 Men’s V8+

cox: Deanna stroke: Phil, Tretola, Corey, Alex, Erik, Matt, Andrew  box: Alejandro

7:16pm Event # 40 Men’s JV8+

cox: Ryan stroke: Richard, Tommy, Cameron, Estaban, Dan, Flaviano, Tony, box: David

If you have any questions please email me.

Thanks
Jess

Head Coach
Lowell High School
jessica@lhsrowing.com
(978)551-3272

The spring season is swiftly approaching.  Here are some important dates so everyone can begin to prepare.

February 28th VARSITY Team Meeting @ Big Cafe, 3:00pm (Varsity and Novice can pick up fall uniforms from 2:30-3:00)

March 1st First Day of Varsity Practice (most likely at LHS)

March 21h First Day of Novice Practice (at the Boathouse)

March 25th Varsity Parents Meeting at 6:30pm

March 29nd Novice Parents Meeting at 6:30pm

Please email me at jessica@lhsrowing if you want to add something to the agenda for the Parents Meetings.

Thanks Coach Jess

LOWELL — The days of Lowell High’s boys and girls crew teams rowing against the current are long over.

Crew is no longer served up as a mere side dish to the entree list of sports public high schools offer. Each year, the sport goes a little more mainstream. And with some help from the Red Raiders, it certainly made a big splash on the Merrimack River yesterday.

Lowell High’s boys and girls crew teams turned in solid efforts at the 31st annual Textile River Regatta. According to regatta officials, over 3,000 athletes and 600 boats took part in races for men and women that included high school novice and varsity, collegiate, open and masters divisions.

The event is a USRowing registered regatta that is put on by the Merrimac River Rowing Association with the support of UMass Lowell crew, Lowell High crew and Friends of UMass Lowell crew.

“The Textile River Regatta grew by 20 percent since last year, so we have over 600 boats racing here today,” said Lowell High boys crew coach Jessica Murray, who oversees the Red Raiders’ crew program. “This event brings a lot of money into the city of Lowell. It has been getting bigger and bigger each year.”

Racing on its ‘home course’ certainly helped Lowell navigate its way to a strong showing.

“It’s certainly a nice advantage because we row on this river every day,” said Lowell High girls coach Robby Walters. “This event is a great experience for everyone.”

Leading the way for the Lowell boys was the varsity 4 boat of Alex Gavriel, Pablo Suero, Corey Nadeau, Brandon Tretola and coxswain Julian Rojas, which placed 14th in a field of 34 boats.

“It was a great boat to row in, it felt good,” said Gavriel, the Red Raiders’ captain. “We had power. I was excited when we finished in the top 20. Competing in events like this, it feels like you are a big part of something.

“We row on our own and we get everything done without an adult in the boat telling us what to do. You have to work 100 percent as a team otherwise your boat won’t go anywhere. You’ll end up going in circles.”

The members of Lowell’s varsity-4 boat hope to use yesterday’s performance as a springboard to a strong showing at States later this month.

“I think we were pretty good,” said Suero. “We did better than we thought we would do. We reached our goal.

“You have to work hard. If you want to beat the other boats, you have to go hard. It’s like running, you have to keep yourself motivated. If you stop in the middle of the water, you are letting your whole boat down. So it’s basically on you and on your mind. That’s your motivation.”

Lowell’s crew program has roughly 70 student-athletes, including boys and girls. Yesterday served as a good chance for the Red Raiders to see where they are at as a team.

“Not many of our kids ever rowed before coming out for the team,” said Murray. “Once in awhile we’ll get a gem in the rough kind of thing, where their parents rowed, but that doesn’t happen very often. So it’s all brand new. Everyone comes here the first day and it’s like this is the boat and you sit in there and there’s shoes.

“But they pick it up quickly. They are athletes. They figure out how to do things. We don’t do a lot of recruiting. I just post tons of signs all over the high school before school starts and kids will show up at the crew team meeting. Now that the sport is getting bigger, kids come to Lowell High because they’ve heard about the crew team and it’s something they want to do.”

According to Murray, the Red Raiders had 13 boats compete in the regatta, which awarded medals to the top three placewinners in each race.

The Lowell girls were led by the tandem of Kate Keller and Stephanie Beaudry, who teamed up for a 12th-place finish in the women’s club doubles. The duo of Anna Michelson and Erinn McLaughlin combined for 17th in the same doubles event.

“The feeling of being in a boat, you and your teammates rowing hard, trying to maintain or increase your pace, is just amazing,” said Suero.

Read more:http://www.lowellsun.com/sports/ci_16248355#ixzz11XVAa3Nm

Jessica as the new Head Coach led her first varsity four to win a bronze medal (3rd place). While Robby as the new girls’ varsity coach had one of his doubles (Kate Keller and Stephanie Beaudry) receive a gold. Also, The girls first varsity eight placed fourth out of 10; only 2 seconds away from 3rd place, and 4 seconds away from 2nd.

Overall, the team did amazing, and the parents’ and children’s dedication has once again proven itself, leaving everyone’s spirits high. The rest of the results are posted here: http://row2k.com/results/resultspage.cfm?UID=6158607&cat=6.

Additionally, Cameron Crockett won the John J. Beaulieu Award for outstanding Male athlete of the senior class, and Nathan Montminy won the John Abraham Award for the highest ranking senior male athlete (Nathan is the Class of 2010 valedictorian!).

Cameron Crockett (left) and Nathan Montminy (right) with their awards.

Rachel Walsh, Eric Rojas, Cameron Crockett, Ashley Price-Dyment and Olisa Adigwe were given medals of recognition for their achievements as tri-varsity athletes.

From left to right - Cameron Crockett, Ashley Price-Dyment, Alcia Blais, CJ Valcich, Nathan Montminy, Aly Hall, Eric Rojas, Rachel Walsh, Dan Marasa, Natali Soto, Lauren Dubois, Joe Larocque, Arianna Rogers and Rhady Sorm.

Congrats to our graduating seniors!!!

Olisa Adigwe – Xavier University (New Orleans)
Cameron Crockett – Marietta (Ohio) (Div. 3 – rowing in college)
Garrett Davis – Suffolk
Joe Larocque – St. Joe’s in Philly (Div. 1 – rowing in college)
Dan Marasa – Clark (Div. 3 – rowing in college)
Nathan Montminy – Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Erik Rojas – Boston University
Rhady Sorm – Clark
Marc Cahill – Middlesex
Matt Hall – UVM
Alicia Blais – Colby-Sawyer College
Aly Hall – UMiami (Florida)
Arianna Rogers – Syracuse
Ashley Price-Dyment – Stetson (Florida) (Div. 1 – rowing in college)
CJ Valcich – Loyola University of Chicago
Lauren Dubois – Johnson & Wales
Natali Soto – Boston College
Rachel Walsh – Smith College (Div. 3 – rowing in college)
Sabrina Vigeant – US Army
Victoria Gregory – University of New Haven