November 30, 2006 Issue                                       

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©2006 The Chestnut Hill Local

MountSt. Joe’s fall crew round-up
by TOM UTESCHER

Mount juniors Devon Stewart (left) and Meg Kehan were selected to attend the East Coast High Performance Camp conducted by the U.S. Junior Women’s National Team earlier this month. (Photo by Tom Utescher)

Last Saturday Mount St. Joseph Academy rowers rang down the curtain on their fall training season and welcomed back former teammates to their Conshochocken boathouse at the school’s annual crew Class Day. After head coach Megan Kennedy presided over the ceremonial portion of the gathering, current members of the team sallied forth onto the Schuylkill for some friendly competition with some MSJ alumni and members of the burgeoning “Mount Moms” crew.

The Magic paid tribute to the man who gave most of them their grounding in the sport, Jim Glavin, who has retired after spending six years with the program. During much of his tenure he worked with the team’s novice rowers, guiding the Mount’s freshman eight to the gold medal at each of the last three scholastic national championship regattas.

This was followed by the formal Christening of the eight-oared shell dubbed the “Crew Parents,” which was first put into service last spring. It was this vessel which carried the Lightweight Eight crew to an undefeated 2006 season that included gold medals in three national-level regattas. One of the V-1 class shells introduced by Vespoli, the boat features a sleek, low-profile design and a tough Kevlar-reinforced hull.

Both the 2006 lightweight crew and the varsity eight crew (Stotesbury Regatta and Scholastic National champions) lost three rowers to graduation, and the Magic have been trying out new line-ups over the past few months.

This fall, the varsity eight won the Philadelphia Navy Day Regatta and the King’s Head and Frostbite regattas. The crew finished second in the Braxton Regatta (also held on the Schuylkill), which was won by the Mercer (NJ) Rowing Club, the runner-up at the Henley Women’s Regatta last June. In dedicated lightweight races at the Navy Day and Frostbite events this fall, the MSJ lights won both times, while coming in second at King’s Head and third at the Braxton, where they raced against varsity crews.

MSJ varsity coach Mike McKenna said he was “mildly disappointed” by the Mount’s showing at this year’s Head of the Charles in Boston, an event which the Magic V-8 won in 2005. With one of its veterans out sick and another rower performing with a minor injury, the varsity eight came in 16th in the 2006 competition, and fifth among high school crews (as opposed to clubs).

Of course, this is a very different type of racing than the sort done in regular crew competition in the spring. In head races, the boats start separately and race against the clock instead of directly against one another. The courses are generally much longer than the 1500 meters that is the standard distance in most scholastic regattas. As McKenna observed, it’s a bit like a track athlete entering cross country races in the fall in order to keep in trim.

The Magic received exciting news in October when two juniors, rower Meg Kehan and coxswain Devon Stewart, were invited to the East Coast High Performance Rowing Camp held by the U.S. Junior Women’s National Team. Kehan and Stewart were among just 20 athletes from all over the eastern United States who were asked to the session, which took place November 17-19 in Norwalk, CT.

It’s from this pool of rowers, and its west coast counterpart, that U.S. Rowing will eventually select the athletes who will compete at the Junior World Championships in China in August of 2007. Kehan, who occupied the three seat in the Mount’s varsity eight last spring, and Stewart, who was the lightweight eight coxswain, also attended the national junior developmental camp last summer.