by Henry Gula

Over the weekend, the Wayland-Weston boys finished their spring season on a very high note. Two boats qualified for the postseason, a lightweight eight and an open pair. These two boats trained for an extra three weeks before making the trip to Cincinnati, Ohio for US Rowing’s Youth National Championship.

These two boats had been working all season toward Nationals and were well-prepared for their final three races that would determine their rank against teams from all over the United States.

The lightweight eight’s lineup was stroke Jonathan Heinlein, Jason Nazarian, Michael Wu, Henry Gula, Jakub Buczek, Nick Kossack, Brandon Blaesser, Oliver Pucker, and coxswain Gabe Lozano. This lineup had a nearly even mixture of rowers from Wayland and Weston and was also a young lineup (three sophomores, four juniors, and only two seniors) with very high potential.

In their first heat, W-W needed to finish in the top four in a seven-boat field to advance to the semi-finals. They had a strong race and finished with fourth place secured, seven seconds ahead of the fifth place boat, without having to waste unnecessary energy.

The semi-final is often the most intense race of the entire progression. In a six-boat field, the top three advance to the grand finals and are guaranteed sixth place in the entire event. The three losing boats are sent to the petite final. In their semi-final, W-W showed their true strength and had their best performance of the weekend. A strong start put the lightweight eight up on three of the six boats, in position to make the grand final. In extremely tight competition with Westerville Rowing Club of Columbus, Ohio, W-W was able to overpower Westerville in the final sprint and earned a place in the grand final with a time of 6:10, their best time of the season.

In the grand final, W-W lined up with the five best lightweight eights in the country. Four of the competitors were from the west coast, with W-W and Canisius High School of New York the only two from the east. W-W was not as powerful as the other boats, but still walked away with sixth-place in the entire event and with a spot in the grand final. They were able to beat rival Community Rowing, Inc of Boston in the end, after tight races all season. CRI finished eighth in the event.
The winner was Marina Acquatic Center of Los Angeles, California, followed by Marin Rowing Association of northern California and Newport Aquatic Center of Newport, California. California teams have a natural advantage in that they can practice all the way from September to June without taking the winter off. Wayland-Weston’s ability to hold their own against such competition is a true testament to their hard work and mental and physical abilities.

The open pair consisted of the two top heavyweight rowers from W-W, Kep Edwards and Ryan Leddy. They petitioned to earn a place at Nationals and were allowed to compete despite not earning a medal at the Northeast Regional Championship. The pairs racing at Nationals consists of lesser-known teams that often have only two rowers of the Nationals caliber, therefore many pairs are very fast. In their first heat, Edwards and Leddy finished fourth, earning them a berth in the semi-final. Unfortunately, a recurring shoulder injury once again plagued Edwards, and the pair finished last in their semi-final, moving them to the petite final. He managed to row through the injury and the pair finished fourth in the petite final, good for tenth overall in the event.

In the end, the 2010 spring season was a strong one for Wayland-Weston. The team saw some high and low points, but in the end managed to qualify two boats for Nationals, and then qualified a boat for a Nationals grand final, which is the goal at the beginning of every new spring season. The graduating seniors will be missed, while the rising sophomores present new opportunities and potential for the team to continue to expand and improve. Assistant coach David Mauer will also be moving on, and his presence will be missed. Despite these losses however, W-W will be looking forward to rowing on Lake Cochituate resuming in the fall and another season of opportunities.