Archbishop Carroll boys crew placed first in their heat and fifth out of 18 boats in the Men’s Varsity Four in the second Manny Flick of the Horvat Series on March 23.
The girls crew placed last in their heat, and eighth out of twelve boats.
Both the boys and girls crews competed in intense races against other teams from the tri-state area during the flick. Flicks are short races on the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia for area high school rowers to gain racing experience as they prepare for longer and bigger regattas. The races are named for Manuel A. Flick, who founded the races in the 1950s, and Don Horvat, who was involved in the Flicks in the 1970s and 1980s, according to the “Boathouse Row — The Book” website.
Junior rower Joe Lazzari said he was pleased with the boys crew results.
“Today’s race was pretty competitive,” Lazzari said. “I’m more than happy with our high placement, and I definitely didn’t expect for us to even break [the] top 10. The boat was set, the piece was clean, and I hope our next flick we can beat La Salle [second place].”
Sophomore rower John Smith agreed.
“Going into Sunday, if I’m being 100 percent, I wasn’t too confident with how things would turn out,” Smith said. “We hadn’t gotten much practice the week of the race in the boat we were racing and when we did you could feel the lack of unison in the boat. I remember getting down to the water and having that mindset, like, let’s get this over with. I got to say, though, once that race started, it all changed. Into the race, we had a little bit of an issue at the start, but once we got going, we got going. That feeling once we crossed the finish line with no boat in sight was one of the best I’ve had yet at crew.”
Sophomore Kelly McGee expressed an optimistic take on her lineup’s results in a close race in the Women’s Varsity Eight event.
“Being along the Schuylkill River is such a nice time and a great view of the city; however, nothing compares to rowing down it during the spring season,” McGee said. “Still, early in the season, the sun was hiding but the fun environment and amazing community really created such an atmosphere. Rowing is an amazing teamwork and the races highlight that ability to come together. Though this past weekend we didn’t reach all of our goals, it was an incredible race and will be the foundation of everything that will come with the rest of our season.”
Carroll still has three more flicks in which to compete this season.
