The girls varsity rowing team competed at the Massachusetts Public Schools Rowing Association (MPSRA) Spring Championship, taking home second, third and fourth place medals on May 25 at Watuppa Pond in Fall River. At the last regatta of the season, all three varsity boats worked their hardest to bring home medals.

The MPSRA Spring Championship is an annual rowing competition for all public schools in MA and encourages teams to test out their strongest rowing skills against others from the league. The third varsity boat ended up placing third, the second varsity placed second, and the first varsity placed fourth in their finals.

Due to high waste volume in the Merrimack River, the usual competition site, a change of plans led the rowers to Watuppa Pond in Fall River. The day-long championship splits the rowers’ efforts into two races, a time trial and a final, depending on the results of the timed race. Due to an unexpected error in buoy placement, the girls’ boats were misled as to the length of their first race.

The race was supposed to span only 1500 meters, but due to a mistake made by a volunteer, the course went on for 2000 meters instead. Sophomore Frances Mathews, a member of the second varsity boat, said that the extra length was disconcerting.

“When there’s like 250 meters left in a race, your coxswain will tell you to sprint,
and we had been sprinting for 250 meters only to find out that we had to row for another 500 meters. So we were all absolutely dead,” said Mathews.

Reflecting on her race, a member of the third varsity boat, sophomore Abigail Tsai, said that despite the rough weather conditions, her boat finished strong to make an overall good race.

“I think that the wind and the white caps were kind of strong, but we pushed through, and our sprint was really strong at the end,” said Tsai. “I think we were really together at the start, and it motivated us to pull hard, especially since it’s the last race of the season.”

After all races terminated, the teams came together to relish their last race of the season, and for some, forever. Junior Eliza Kamholz said she had formed personal bonds with many people on the team and was sad to see them go.

“I’m going to miss the seniors a lot. I think it’s very different when you’re a junior and graduating from when you’re a sophomore. I have a lot more personal connections with the seniors. I feel like overall, our season was very productive this year, or across the board,” said Kamholz.

Thinking back on the tumultuous racing season for the girls team, junior varsity coach Paul Swetz said the most important takeaway the girls could make was that they hold potential they may not even know they have.

“There’s a million lessons,” said Swetz. “I think the biggest one is that they’re stronger and better and faster than they even realize.”