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76th Scholastic National Regatta

Men's Varsity 4+ raced on Friday, May 28th at 1:30. Five teams in our heat:

• Lane 1 – St. Joseph’s Collegiate (Philadelphia)
• Lane 2 – Upper St. Clair
• Lane 3 – The Hun School
• Lane 4 – St. Anthony’s
• Lane 5 – James River (VA)

It rained......again! However, this time it also rained medals! The medal count was indeed very high with every single USC rower taking home a medal. This was an unprecedented accomplishment with the Men's team taking First Place in the Men's Team Standings for 2010. The medal list is as follows:
  Men's Varsity 4+ - Gold
  Women's JV 4+ A - Gold
  Men's JV 4+ - Gold
  Men's JV 8+ - Gold
  Women's JV 8+ - Silver
  Women's Novice 4+ - Silver
  Men's Novice 4+ - Bronze

Congratulations to all USC Rowers!!!

This was our "REACH" event for the Men's and Women's "A" boats. The coaches select the best and fastest boats from the team to compete at the "REACH" event for the year. This year, the coaches selected the Men's Varsity Four who qualified for Nationals and the Women's JV Four who placed 8th in the time trials at Midwest. Stotesbury is a prestigious event with a Cup awarded for each event that the winner keeps for the year and returns to the race the following year for the new competition. Cup winners and times are recorded all the way back to 1927.

The racing started with "head style" time trials on Friday. The Women's JV Four raced at 9:30 am and came in 24th out of a field of 69 entries! Only the top 18 times would move on to the sprint style semi-finals. The Men's Varsity Four was primed for action at 2:30, did not move on to the semi-finals, but did place a respectable 25th out of 54 entries and only 5 seconds behind the 18th qualifying boat. All in all, it was a great trip and a great experience for these crews.

The two day Midwest Scholastic Rowing Championships began with too much rain the week before and high winds predicted. The ground dried out and the lake level fell to normal levels but the wind predictions held true. Saturday started with the Women's Novice 4+ and the Women's JV 4+ both placing 8th in head-style qualifying events, and the top twelve crews moving on to semi-final races. 28-32 mph winds caused the race to be delayed for most of the day, only running the eights. Necessary schedule compression resulted in canceling semi-finals for these two events and only advancing the top 6 crews directly to finals. This left finals hopes up to the Varsity Double and Varsity Fours on day two.

Sunday was much less windy with racing beginning at 7:00 am. The USC Men's Varsity 4+ just edged into the finals, beating out the 7th place crew by 0.01 seconds. During finals, the USC Men's Varsity 4+ stayed in a battle over fourth, for most of the race, pulling away in the last 300 m but without enough water left to over take third. Fourth place did not deliver any hardware, but did secure one of 28 invitations for the Scholastic Nationals Regatta in Saratoga Springs, NY at the end of the month.

The day began ominously as 28 high school teams showed up under a dark and cloudy dawn. The Women's LtWt. 4+ and Varsity 4+ made a valiant run just one boat length out of Finals. The rain started on arival, but didn't slow down our Men's Varsity 4+, who finished first in one of two heats to qualify for Finals. The rain cleared and so did the field with the Men's JV 8+ placing third in their heat and also moving on to Finals. When the wind picked up the Women's 2- was delayed until the end of the race, weather permitting. As the Men's 4+ made its way to the starting line, our tent decided to take flight under the wind. It took every parent to hold it down and start packing up everything that wasn't nailed down. The fours returned under rough water with the race delayed. The drama continued for an hour while the race committee decided how to proceed. As the wind let up, it was decided to continue with the 8's first, and then the fours, but with too little time between for USC to hot seat three of its rowers. It was decision time for the men, who made the tough choice to scratch the eight so that the Varsity four could go for gold. As we watched the 8's race from the shore, the wind picked up again and the heart breaking announcement came that the rest of the race was cancelled; dashing hopes for a medal from the Varsity Four. USC played a gamble with the weather and lost a medal today, but they showed their mettle with a true act of team spirit, exemplifying all that is Crew.

The rain was threatening all day and so was the USC Crew Team! No medals this trip, but we had several crews in the hunt for finals. This was a great first race for the Spring season wih only 2 weeks of practice before hand, due to river conditions. The USC rowers are starting to come together as a team and it shows. Our novice rowers now know what to expect in a Sprint race and are ready to give it their all at Moraine next week. See you there!

With snow on the ground and just 7 weeks until the first Spring meet, the USC Crew Team assembled its best to compete at the North Allegheny Indoor Rowing Championships. USC accumulated a total of FIVE medals over the course of the day; three gold, one silver, and one bronze in the various age and weight divisions. USC finished off the day with a second place finish in the JV Relay, just 20 meters behind first. It was a great race day, but we're really looking forward to getting out on the water!

USC Takes Second Place Overall at the Pittsburgh Indoor Rowing Championships !

The day started out in the high fifties and dropped steadily all day long for a very chilly regatta. Novice Boys 4+ started out the day finishing 31/35 followed by the Novice Girls 4+, finishing 25/31. Our own Jess Michalak, Girls Varsity and JV coach competed in the Mixed Masters 8+ taking 3rd for a bronze medal. After noon, as temperatures continued to drop, Women's Varsity 4+ turned in a respectable 25 place finish in a field of 43. USC Men's Varsity 4+ finished 8th overall (5th in the high school standing) and just 12 seconds out of a high school medal. The USC JV Mens finished 36th in that same event. The day finished a chilly 40 degrees with the USC Women's Varsity 8+ beating out all of the entered Pittsburgh teams for a 21st place finish in a field of 36. USC Men's Varisty 8+ wrapped up our day of racing with a 21st place finish out of 32 entries. All-in-all, a great day of racing on Grigg's Reservior for Upper St. Clair!

Two days of rain cleared off for a nice day but left the banks a muddy mess. Mixed results with only 4 crews getting out to compete before the race was called due to high winds in the middle mile. Best result of the day was the Boys Varsity 4+ (A) which placed 10th out of 37, only 10 seconds out of a high school medal. The Girls Varsity 8+, Boys Varsity 4+ (B), and Boys Novice 4+ also competed in the morning.

The USC Crew Team upper classmen competed at the Frogtown Regatta in Toledo, OH. This was a GREAT venue for the head races with 7 entries from Upper St. Clair among 24 other high school entries from Illinois, Indiana Michigan, and Ohio. USC did not place in any events, but it was a good race day and we gained valuable insight and motivation for the rest of the season.