Area boys brave high waters on Schuylkill

Posted 4/3/17

The lightweight double from Germantown Academy managed to win while rowing in the unfavorable sixth lane. (Photo by Tom Utescher) by Tom Utescher Last Sunday's Manny Flick/Horvat series regatta had …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in

Area boys brave high waters on Schuylkill

Posted

The lightweight double from Germantown Academy managed to win while rowing in the unfavorable sixth lane. (Photo by Tom Utescher)

by Tom Utescher

Last Sunday's Manny Flick/Horvat series regatta had all of the boys' races grouped together in the first part of the day's schedule, but with Friday's rain still swelling the Schuylkill, the activities of the least experienced oarsmen were curtailed.

It had already been announced on Saturday that there would be no competition for freshmen and other first-year rowers in the smaller vessels - those most likely to capsize on a rapidly flowing river.

After all of the big freshman eights got down the course, Germantown Academy scored a victory in the first flight of the boys' JV double, where Isaac Wilkins and Derek Walkush beat the runner-up by 10 seconds.

In lightweight racing a bit later, Gabe Sher and Eric Shen of Germantown Friends finished second in their race, just three seconds off the pace of the winners from Ridgewood (N.J.) High School. Germantown Academy's Decker Wentz and Pedro Sobral were somewhat farther back, but they still secured third place.

The Tigers were runners-up once more in the next race to come downstream, as Raz Allon, Wiley Corlett, Finn Kassell-Osborne and Seve Reitano gave a solid performance in the lightweight quad.

Germantown Friends' lightweight quad heads for home after clearing Peter's Island. (Photo by Tom Utescher)

Ashore by the team tents, spectators and supporters spread out plentiful amounts of straw on the ground in an attempt to dry up large sections of deep mud and standing water. Politicians promising to "drain the swamp" should've paid a visit to this stretch of riverbank.

Out on the water, GFS was second yet again in the first heat of the varsity single, as James Wright was edged out of the lead by just 0.68 seconds by a sculler from Strath Haven High School who won in 4:59.00. The second flight was actually faster (won in 4:32.02), while the third flight featured the most leisurely pace. Still, GA's Nick Moeller could still claim a victory here (in 5:15.00) while Penn Charter's Stephen Fleming placed third (5:21.43).

In the last of the boys' sculling races, the SCH Blue Devils finished second in their flight with their manifest listing Theo Gregson, Mike Wrede, Thomas Leichner and Will Newbold.

sports