The Archbishop Carroll boys and girls crew teams had a good showing at the third Manny Flick of the Horvat Series on March 30 in Philadelphia.
“Manny Flick 3 was a very successful day across the board for both guys and girls,” coach Aislinn O’Brien said. “We’ve been seeing huge progress each week and are super excited for what the rest of the season has in store. The girls’ and guys’ varsity fours placed sixth out of 24 and the girl’s novice four placed fifth out of nine, with our second boys’ varsity four placing 18th out of 24, so we were very proud of everyone!”
Flicks are short races on the Schuylkill River 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.
“I think it was pretty good,” junior Joseph Lazzari said of his crew’s race. “At the steps, we lost a little bit of press. But we couldn’t catch up to the other top boats after that. We eventually lost them before the finish line, but I believe we can beat faster boats like La Salle or Holy Ghost by the end of the season if we practice with higher rates.”
Junior Julian McPherson agreed.
“I was pumped from getting first place in the previous flick, and being in the first heat with all the top schools was also thrilling…We were able to get Judge by a nice second, and we were holding a head-and-head race with La Salle, but a whiff of fatigue hit the boat and we lost them towards the end,” McPherson said. “Otherwise, a great race and I am proud to be in such a competitive boat for Carroll.”
Having a similar placement to the boys’ boat, the girls’ varsity four lineup landed in the top 10 placements overall, setting a competitive time at 5:37.8 minutes, just ten seconds away from the first-place contender, Gwynedd Mercy, which finished at 5:27.8 minutes.
After the five Manny Flicks, the last of which is April 13, the crew will move on to larger, multi-day regattas such as the City Championship on May 3 and 4. The City Championship takes scholastic teams and clubs from all over the greater Philadelphia area and has them compete for the top three spots to qualify for youth nationals. High school teams will have the chance to qualify a week after all five flicks of the Manny Flick Series are continued.
