Head coach Aaron Lee has the most experienced group of rowers in his six years at St. Ed’s, but that hasn’t stopped him from trying something he’s never done before.
The coach has completely revamped the rowing style he feels is necessary to have two boats qualify for the national Stotesbury Cup Regatta in Philadelphia in May.
“The boys varsity four boat has three high school boys and an eighth-grader,” Lee explained. “Because we have an eighth-grade boy rowing, even if that boat won at the state level, it would not be eligible for the national sweeps (four rowers with one oar each) races that we’ve been lucky enough to go to for the last several years.
“So what we will do is have Gunther Read and Michael Burke compete in what’s called a double. That means two rowers with two oars each in a sculling event. They will be eligible to go on (to Philadelphia), and we are hoping that they can do well enough.
“Before we started this, Gunther had spent a total of two days sculling, and Michael had never done it at all. Usually we are trying to get the boys varsity four boat as competitive as it can be, but his time we are trying to teach two guys how to do something new and get them as competitive as they can be. It’s a much more challenging prospect.
“We ran into a similar situation on the girls side. It was not a matter of having middle-school girls on a boat, but for a variety of reasons the girls won’t be able to qualify for the sweeps nationals, either.”
All of this means that the outlook for the rest of the rowing season is vastly different than in the past. For the first time ever, one girls double and one boys double will compete at the sculling state championships in Sarasota in mid-April. Those boats will be able to advance.
Two weeks later Lee will take four crews back to Sarasota for the state sweeps championships. The boats participating in that event will not be able to advance.
Here are the lineups for both events:
• Boys Varsity Double: Gunther Read, Michael Burke.
• Boys Varsity Four: Gunther Read, Michael Burke, Tyler Zudans, Eddie Pines, coxswain is Rachel Gambee.
• Boys JV Four: Jonathan Buckley, Emil Firat, Paul Siegl, Jake Burns, coxswain is Devon Regan.
• Girls Varsity Double: Maggie Taylor, Valerie Burke.
• Girls Varsity Four: Maggie Taylor, Valerie Burke, Kira Zudans, Caroline Campione, coxswain is Cameron Katz.
• Girls JV Four: Julie Lombardi, Ellie Huryn, Veronica Burkarth, Rachel Gambee, coxswain is Cameron Katz.
“We are participating in more events than ever at the state level,” Lee said. “Most years we had entries in three events at the most. When we came into this year the vast majority of the team had two of more years of rowing experience, and we thought we would do more refining than teaching. Then we had these issues crop up and we had to change our focus.”
Maggie Taylor and Villanova-bound Valerie Burke will be on the girls varsity double boat. Taylor is a co-captain of the team along with Gunther Read – and both have raced at national regattas.
“This is my fifth year on the crew team,” Taylor, a senior, told us. “We are prioritizing the doubles speed-wise. We hope to do pretty well at sculling states and continue on to the Stotesbury Cup. It depends on how fast we can get between now and then.
“We are pushing for it the same way we have in years previous when it has worked out for us. It’s just a matter of seeing what the other competition looks like.”
Read is also a senior and this is his fourth year on the rowing team. He has been rowing in the same boat with Michael Burke for three years and fully understands the crucial dynamic of teamwork.
“Mr. Lee gives us a lot of freedom to do what we need to do on the water and on the erg,” Read said. “We are pushing each other for the common good. Sure you can be one of the best rowers, but it really takes the whole group of you to do well. It’s important to have someone next to you or behind you that is doing just as well or better. We are all pushing each other to be the best.”
The team practices on land three mornings a week from 6 to 7:30. Then in the afternoon it’s out on the water, conditions permitting. With a full school day in between, that’s an exhausting schedule.
“’I’m obviously in awe of what they’ve done,” Lee said. “St. Edward’s rowing program has developed a reputation for being very successful despite our small size. I’ve been lucky over the last six years to have kids that have been so dedicated, so hard-working and so capable.
“And one of the big ways you can see that is having kids go off to rowing programs in college.”
