An encouraging start to the Fall Rowing Season for our Mustangs

Updated: Oct 4, 2023

Medford High School (MHS) Crew Team opened its Fall 2023 season on Sunday, October 1st at the 43rd Annual Textile River Regatta (TRR), hosted by UMass Lowell on the Merrimack River. The TRR is a "head" race, which means that each boat races every 10 seconds, and will not know where they place until every boat crosses the finish line. With sunny skies and temperatures in the 70’s, it was a perfect day for a race.

MHS Rowing started the day with the Men’s Jr 4+ with sophomores Henrique Matos, Matt Striker, James Cluggish and freshman Henry Gregor. The Men’s Jr 4 crossed the finish line with a time of 18:39, which was good for 15th out of 22.

Next up, after the 4+ race, was the Men's Jr 4X+ with seniors Anthony Purifory, Cormac Lynch, and sophomores Cooper Su, Jaylen Richardson and junior coxswain, Oumniya Benalia. Although they didn't do as well as they were hoping, it is important to note that this was the first time that these four rowed together (and two of the rowers are new to sculling). With another week of practice, these four will surely improve!

The Men's Jr Novice 4+ soon followed with freshman Alex Brees, Owen Barczak-Kroll, Harrison Mumma, Jayden Wu, and coxswain, Evan Rees. They also didn't perform as well as they were hoping, but just as the 4X+, this was the first race for all five freshmen, who just started racing less than 30 days ago.

After a short break, MHS’s final two boats were set to race. The Women's Jr Novice 2x and the Men's Jr 4.

The 2x with sophomore Sara Youseef and freshman Sabani Li had a great race. They crossed the finish line with a time of 21:20, good enough for fifth place.

The final race of the day was the Men's Jr 4, with seniors Adrien Wu, Conor O’Leary, Theo Norton, and Cormac Lynch (who already raced in the morning). While missing senior captain, Scott Campbell, they fought valiantly, but in the end weren't able to place.

While none of the boats were able to take home medals, Coach Manes was extremely happy with today’s outcome.

Coach Manes was quoted as saying “The TTR is a huge race and, with over 460 boats, it is a long day! I couldn't be more proud of all the athletes. For some of the athletes this was their first time racing. Our main goal for this race was getting from point A to point B.”