Vessels from area crews were among the almost 1,000 boats racing last weekend at the 97th annual Stotesbury Cup Regatta, the oldest and largest high school regatta in the world.

Germantown Friends School and Mount St. Joseph Academy, in particular, made strong showings on the Schuylkill alongside Kelly Drive.

GFS was the only area program to have every one of its entries (nine in total) advance out of Friday's time trials. Six of the Tigers' crews went on to the finals on Saturday afternoon, and in the freshman quads event, their boys won a silver medal and their girls captured a bronze.

Six of the Mount's seven entries advanced past the time trials, and four advanced to the finals. There, the junior eight collected a silver medal, the second eight won a gold medal, and in the final race of the regatta, the Magic captured the Robert Engman Trophy for the girls' varsity eight.

Starting out with 10 boats, Springside Chestnut Hill Academy got seven to the semifinals and one into the finals, where the Blue Devils claimed the silver medal in the girls' junior quad.

Penn Charter put six of the 10 boats it entered into the semifinals. Two went on to the finals, and there the girls' senior double finished fourth and the girls' freshman quad placed fifth.

Germantown Academy struggled a bit in the time trials, with three of its eight entries advancing. The Patriots' girls' freshman quad went through to the finals and finished sixth.

In the events with the largest number of entries, 18 boats advanced from the time trials into three semifinals, where the top two finishers in each race reached the finals. In other events, 12 advanced from the trials, and the top three crews in each of two semifinals moved on.

SCH had its girls' lightweight double and its girls' freshman quad each miss the finals by one place in the semis, and Penn Charter suffered the same fate in both the girls' and boys' junior double. Mount St. Joe's freshman eight was third in a semifinal race where only two boats advanced, and the GA boys' junior quad wound up fourth in its semifinal. 

The first area boat to race in Saturday's final round was the GFS girls' lightweight double, which included Addy Williams and Maddy Ohta. Three out-of-state crews won medals, while the Tigers came in fourth. Virginia's Albemarle High School won the boys' freshman quad, and then GFS, with Zeke Hammarhead, Sam Desai, Alden Dunleavy, and Levi Yeomans, took the silver medal.

The girls' freshman quad final featured three crews from the area. Hockaday, a team from Dallas, won the race, while GFS (Sophia McCrea, Mikaela Orenstein, Katalin Mardeusz, and Evalina Heep) pocketed the bronze medal. Penn Charter (Sophia Toncich-Mandel, Parker Grimes, Grace Choate, Elizabeth Taub) came in fifth and GA (Sophia Song, Alexandra Brown, Maya Salerno, Emma Podulka) was sixth.

Virginia's Wakefield High School, the fastest qualifier in the junior eight, would go on to win the gold medal. They fought off a late challenge from Mount St. Joseph (Kylie Reichert - cox, Alexia Levine - stroke, Maddie Dudley, Olivia Duffy, Ramsey Tabor, Addi Ross, Maddie Kristel, Molly Chipman, Ella Kurek), which finished less than two seconds later to take the silver.

In the girls' junior quad, Hockaday won easily, with SCH (Charlotte Trayes, Caitlin Keough, Emma Ludwikowski, Ariya Goswami) capturing the silver medal and GFS (Isabella Ammon, Nola Schaenen, Lyla Conley, Lila Donovan) coming in fourth.

PC's girls' senior double, powered by Claire Lewis and Ellie Choate, also finished fourth. In the boys' final in this category, GFS (Luke Lendler, Julian Cheung) placed sixth, as out-of-state tandems took the top four spots.

While the girls' second eight final was underway, a freight train rumbled across the Columbia Bridge just past the finish line. Another unstoppable locomotive, the Mount Two-Vee (Sydney Fluke - cox, Anna Ledwith - stroke, Molly Maher, Emily Feilke, Meghan Krumenacker, Shay Gura, Norah McGlynn, Julia Fede, and Layla Seward) won the gold medal by more than eight seconds.

A little later GFS (Cara Appleberry, Rebecca Rasmussen, Lucy Yannella, Leah Cornejo) came in fourth in the girls' senior quad, and the Mount's senior four (Sarah Mark - cox, Michaela Kowalski - stroke, Zoe Truitt, Anna Fedders, Kari Prosperi) placed sixth.

The Mount received a challenge in the senior eight from New Jersey's Montclair High School. The Magic boat (Angelina Baker - cox, Vanessa Ksiazek - stroke, Maya McCottry, Caroline Johnson, Addy Smith, Eva Getty, Ava Smith, Clara Pagano, Ellie Fazio) was the fastest qualifier, but in separate semifinal races, the Garden State girls had the better time.

The Mounties put the hammer down in the finals, winning gold in four minutes, 52.89 seconds, while Montclair was second in 4:57.60.