Bromfield Acton-Boxborough boats rank among the best in the United States after competing at USRowing’s Youth National Regatta in Sarasota, Florida, June 10 through 13.
Charlie Maxwell and Eliza Straayer placed fourth and fifth, respectively, in the under-17 single event. Zoe Gendreau-Distler and Rachel Walker took 12th in the U17 double; Matthew Atwell (Bromfield ’21), John Babcock (Bromfield ’21), Ryan Crowley, Clark Hanlon, and coxswain Anjali Raman (A-B ’21) finished 15th in the 4. The contest, held at the world-class Nathan Benderson Park racecourse, drew 748 boats from singles on up to 8s hailing from 181 teams and clubs all over the country.
Two BA-B doubles—Asher Ryba and Ewan Smith, and Anya Buchovecky (Bromfield ’21) and Courtney Clark—battled huge fields in their event, but despite monster time improvements over their performances at Northeast Regionals Championships in May, they did not advance. Despite their disappointment, these rowers threw themselves into support mode, carrying oars and hyping up their teammates, even running on the bike path beside the course shouting encouragement to the racers.
The journey began Saturday, June 5, when BA-B athletes lashed their vessels to a trailer shared with other local teams for the trek to Florida. The rowers flew from Boston to Tampa on Tuesday, June 8, to acclimate and train. Time trials on Thursday, June 10, set the stage for semifinals and finals the following days; the top 12 boats would move to A and B finals.
The course itself is a purpose-built 2,000-meter straightaway complete with permanent starting docks and a four-story viewing tower at the finish line—a long way from their home water, Harvard’s Bare Hill Pond, in more ways than one.
“Racing on an Olympic-level course can be daunting for even the most experienced rower, and I felt our team did an amazing job managing the pressure,” said BA-B program director and girls head varsity coach Holly Hatton. Spectators hollered and rang cowbells from the sand near the finish line. The BA-B team’s trailer was parked beside the bike rental tent, where the kind proprietors shared their shade with the athletes. Temperatures lingered in the low 90s and it was not a dry heat. Rowers dunked their shirts in a cooler full of ice water before donning them and sat with bags of ice on their legs after racing.
The 4 placed 18th in the time trial in a field of 47. But the U17 singles and double posted fast enough times in the trial to make the semifinals. There, Maxwell and Straayer each placed third in their heats, securing berths in the A, or grand, finals in medal contention, while Gendreau-Distler and Walker landed in the B finals.
On Saturday, June 12, the athletes launched and paddled to the starting line for the last time. The air horn blew, and they pulled as hard as they could. In the end, they won no medals; Maxwell came closest, missing bronze by four seconds. But the team had accomplished something more significant than a shiny token on a ribbon. After the pandemic descended in March 2020, these athletes did not touch an oar for an entire year. Now, they are nationally ranked—and they did it as a team.
“I’m so proud of our athletes,” Hatton said. “BA-B was one of the few public high school programs at the competition. Knowing that they had only competed in one other regatta in the past year and a half, with none of our athletes having been on the national stage before, they represented our team with poise and great determination. They said they learned so much and couldn’t wait to take this experience and build on it for the next season.”
Boys head varsity coach Brian DeDominici was equally chuffed. “Every crew kept gaining speed from regionals all the way through their final race in Florida,” he said. “They beat or gained on multiple crews that had beaten them a few weeks before. In the case of the 4, they were able to finish three spots higher than they were seeded in their final. The entire team worked very hard this season and was able to get some incredible results from limited training time,” DeDominici said. “I’m very excited to see what we can do moving forward with that experience.”
Results
- Mens Youth 2x: Asher Ryba and Ewan Smith; 7:07.296 in the time trial
- Womens Youth 2x: Anya Buchovecky and Courtney Clark; 7:53.880 in the time trial
- Mens Youth 4+: Matthew Atwell, John Babcock, Ryan Crowley, Clark Hanlon, and coxswain Anjali Raman; 6:48.715, 15th
- Mens U17 1x: Charles Maxwell; 7:56.136, 4th
- Womens U17 1x: Eliza Straayer; 8:40.355, 5th
- Womens U17 2x: Zoe Gendreau-Distler and Rachel Walker, 8:21.356, 12th
Jill Maxwell is a BA-B parent.
