Archbishop Carroll crew ended the five Manny Flick Horvat series with a mixed outcome.
Three lineups performed in the event. The boys junior varsity four with Patrick Grow, Luke Paquette, Christian Blake, Aiden Aleman, and Augustino Russo placed 16th out of 19 boats. The girls varsity four with Analei Frank, Isabella Maxymuik, Dana Williams, Grace Lazzari, and Mia Perez placed 24th out of 27 boats. Lastly, the boys varsity four, consisting of Colin McClarren, Julian McPherson, Joseph Lazzari, and John Smith, placed seventh out of 24 boats.
From a lineup that had only practiced the day before, the boys junior varsity four did adequately well. Carroll’s tent had a clear view of their performance after the Strawberry Mansion bridge. Teams such as Holy Ghost, Haverford, and Father Judge were neck-and-neck with Carroll. The lack of practice greatly affected their results, leading to their unfortunate placement outside of the top 10. Their stroke seat (farthest from the front of the boat), Luke Paquette, expressed his hopes, stating how the lineup could potentially enter as a lightweight boat.
“The boast felt mostly balanced press-wise,” Paquette said. “However, the boat was falling port (tipping left) almost the whole race. [This is] probably the sorest my forearm has been in a long time because of how hard I was fighting to feather (rotating the oar so the blade is flat against the water) out of the water. Despite that, I feel that the boat has a lot of potential to enter lightweight, but that comes with improving first.”
Christian Blake, who was also in his lineup, acknowledged his initial thoughts following their performance.
“I feel like it’s bad on my part since I practically have no (set) pre-race mentality,” Blake said, shaking his head. “I’m mostly focused on rowing, then going home. It was my first time being in the stern pair (the two farthest seats from the front or bow of the boat) of the race, so I was definitely unsure of how we would perform beforehand. Our set was not ideal, but with more practice in this lineup, we could place much higher than this flick.”
The starting sequence for the girls varsity four was strong. Perez’s starting sequence was vocalized effectively, her voice clear, “Three-quarters, half, three-quarters, lengthen, FULL!” This is when the rowers come up at a fast, shorter stroke without leaning back for “three-quarters.” “Half” is used to indicate that they will begin to lengthen with slight layback when they have their arms in after taking the stroke, and “full” is when they do a full stroke. This is where they will go through all the motions with a full layback. The body is pivoted outward with the blade ending at their abdomen before taking another stroke. From there, the girls’ bodies lurched forward, working together and passing the Strawberry Mansion bridge, where they eventually placed 24th out of 27 overall.
The boys varsity four blew Flick Four’s unfortunate score out of the water by regaining their spot in the top 10. Rowing back near the parents’ tent, they were elated to hear from the parents of their high placement, but confused when they found out that a lineup from Christian Brothers was not supposed to be in their heat (2-8 boats in a race that are determined by the placements in time from the prior week. They are raced by 2-8 at a time. The fastest boats are in the first heat, whereas the slowest are found in the last heat.) Joseph Lazzari emphasized this error.
“It was a good race, but we should have been first in our heat,” Lazzari said. “There was a boat (Christian Brothers) that was supposed to be in the one before us, but they ended up racing in ours, so we unofficially came first in our heat, though I’m content that we managed to place seventh overall. It’s a big improvement from last week.”
Next up for Carroll crew is the highly anticipated City Championship, which will happen on Kelly Drive in Philadelphia on May 3 and 4.
