Lightweight Men Finish Third Among Colleges at Head of the Charles
The Hoya Lights made their 2004-2005 racing debut at the 40th Head of the Charles this past weekend in Boston. For the first time ever, the course was shortened from its normal 3.1 miles to a quicker 2.4 due to unrowable wind conditions in the Boston Harbor Basin, normally home to the start of the race. Despite the weather, the rest of the course tended to be fairly flat, with a very strong tail wind in the last few minutes of the race, after the crews emerged from Elliot Bridge (site of many an amazing crash this year!).
Maybe all it took was having embittered Yankees fans in the boats, but Georgetown posted great results in both their events, the Lightweight Men’s Four and the Lightweight Men’s Eight. The four was composed of coxswain Nick Marinakis, Pierre Maitre, John McGroarty, Jack Pfeiffer, and John Fenwick. Starting 10th in their race, the Hoyas passed the Harvard entry at about the midpoint of the race and continued to battle the Fordham boat for the rest of the race. They crossed the line in slightly over 13 minutes, finishing 7th out of 12 boats.
Next up was the Varsity Eight. The six seniors came out to the course with a little extra something to prove, having suffered through two years of poor results in the fall, including last year’s disastrous eleventh place finish. Having clearly rebounded from that race to finish second in the nation last spring, the Hoyas wanted to come out and establish themselves as clear contenders for the overall crown this year. Georgetown started with bow number eleven this year, and coxswain Louisa Seferis kept them right on the stern of bow number 10, a Harvard Lightweight Alumni boat racing as Marin Rowing, as they entered the chute. After they crossed the starting line, Louisa maneuvered the Hoyas so that they were able to draw even and inside of the leading crew just at Weeks Footbridge, making for a dramatic turn, complete with clashing oars and screaming coxswains, which the Hoyas exited with a firm lead. They continued to push up to the next crew, Quinte RC, and were mildly surprised to hear a rapid-fire crashing and banging as they passed Cambridge Boat Club and entered the Elliot Bridge. Turns out the Quinte coxswain had made the unfortunate error of choosing to not make the turn under Elliot, instead opting to turn into Elliot. Quinte disentangled their oars from the abutment just in time to pick up the Hoyas as they drew even, and the crews battled it out head to head for the last stretch of water. Crossing the line, the Hoyas lead by two seats which, of course, is irrelevant given the staggered starts, but a “fun” way to cap off a head race nonetheless. The line-up of the eight, from bow to stern, was Blair Berbert, Kyle Hatton, Mike McGrath, Michael Dorff, Brad Kuntscher, Jimmy Curley, James O’Gara, Cameron Booth, and coxswain Louisa Seferis.
Berbert, Kuntsher, O’Gara, Booth, and Seferis are all 2-year veterans of the varsity eight that first medaled at the 2003 IRA with a bronze, and then won another bronze at the 2004 Eastern Sprints followed by a silver medal at the 2004 IRA.
The eight returned the Hoya lightweights’ best result a the Head
of the Charles, a 5th place finish overall, and 3rd among collegiate crews.
They were led by Navy, last year’s National Champion, by 9 seconds,
and Princeton, by just under one second. However, Yale, Harvard, Penn,
Cornell, and Rutgers all finished within 10 seconds of the Georgetown
boat, promising heavy competition at November 7th’s Princeton Chase.
Said captain James O’Gara of the racing, “I was really impressed
with the way the sophomores stepped it up in particular - both boats had
a good mix or experienced and less experienced guys, and the good performances
are a sign of how well the soph’s are adapting to varsity.”
