Merion Mercy girls celebrate second place at Stotesbury Regatta
The harder it rained, the louder they sang. Sitting in their boat along the awards dock, the girls from the Merion Mercy Academy senior eight hardly seemed to care that they hadn't actually won their race.
/arc-anglerfish-arc2-prod-pmn.s3.amazonaws.com/public/Q6SXIPTHHVCWPCGIGGY5CLDZ54.jpg)
The harder it rained, the louder they sang.
Sitting in their boat along the awards dock, the girls from the Merion Mercy Academy senior eight hardly seemed to care that they hadn't actually won their race.
They felt like celebrating, anyway.
"Look at them," Merion Mercy coach Mike Brown said, watching his team enjoy its second-place finish late Saturday afternoon in the last race of the 90th edition of the Stotesbury Cup Regatta.
"Singing in the rain" was the theme of the final races of the world's largest high school regatta, as Merion Mercy's girls and the boys from powerhouse Gonzaga Prep took turns with spirited renditions of their alma maters.
Gonzaga and Cathedral Prep, both of which are located in Washington, won the boys' and girls' senior eights, respectively, the last two majors of a long day of rowing on the Schuylkill.
For Gonzaga, the victory in a speedy time of 4 minutes, 16.040 seconds marked the program's fifth consecutive victory in the most prestigious event of the regatta.
St. Joseph's Prep won the lightweight eight in 4:24.090 seconds, well ahead of second-place T.C. Williams.
In celebration, St. Joseph tossed senior coxswain Ryan Shearn into the river. It was Shearn's third gold at Stotesbury, his second straight in the lightweight weight.
"Best boat we've ever had," St. Joseph Prep lightweight coach Sean Clarke said. "Every time we race down this river, we race a better time. These guys have been great since Day 1, and they keep getting better."
The Niskayuna (Schenectady, N.Y.) girls' junior eight also dumped their coxswain into the drink after their surprising victory.
"I'm still in shock," Niskayuna coach Sabrina Skotarczak said of her team's triumph out of Lane 2 of the course.
Roman Catholic won the boys' senior quad for the second year in a row, with a time of 4:30.690.
"They know the tradition of this boat," Roman Catholic coach Zack Coons said of his athletes.
It was a good day for the girls from Mount St. Joseph.
The Flourtown school had a couple of tents along the banks of the river, but their home base during the finals on Saturday afternoon seemed to be the awards dock.
"Go, Mount, Go," chants were a common refrain in the grandstand as the Magic won the lightweight eight; took second in the freshman eight and lightweight four; and third in the junior four, junior eight, second eight, and senior eight.
"It's the culture of the school," Mount St. Joseph coach Mike McKenna said. "It's the culture of the parents and the kids. They accept the workload. They accept the sacrifice. And they don't make excuses."
Most of Saturday's action was held under overcast skies, but the rain started to fall just in time for the senior eight races that capped the two-day event along Kelly Drive.
National Cathedral took the lead early in the girls' senior and held on to win in a time of 4:53.080.
But the Mercy Merion girls embraced their silver medals.
"Honestly, it was the best race of my life," said senior stroke Katie Farrell, a George Washington University recruit. "I was so proud of how well we raced."
Senior coxswain Maria Zeris said the second-place finish was not of consequence.
"You can't control the outcome, you can only control your effort," Zeris said. "Our effort was great. We raced our best. That's why we're so happy."
Merion Mercy staged a late surge to cross the line in 4:56.160, edging out Mount St. Joseph for second place, with the Magic taking third in 4:57.510.
"It's great racing against them," Farrell said of Mount St. Joseph. "We make each other better."
@PhilAnastasia
jerseysidesports