BY ROGER CLEAVELAND, REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN
For nearly a century, talented, dedicated rowers have built a crew program steeped in tradition and history at Kent School, but never before has one team accomplished as much as this year’s first boat eight with coxswain.
That team capped a remarkable season July 4 by finishing second to Eton College in the Princess Elizabeth Cup for schoolboy eights at the Henley Royal Regatta in Oxfordshire, England, on the Thames River.
Kent posted a school-best record of 47-2 and also set the school record for fastest race with a time of five minutes, 47 seconds over 2,000 meters while winning this year’s national championship over a previously undefeated California club team.
Coach Eric Houston said that while two regattas claim to be national championship events, the one Kent won in Cincinnati in June is more prestigious because it includes not only schoolboy teams but all-star club teams, as well.
The other national tournament was won by St. Joe’s Prep out of Philadelphia, the only team to have beaten Kent during the regular season. Kent and St. Joe’s went head-to-head in the semifinals of the Henley Regatta with Kent winning by 3 1/2 boat lengths to earn the distinction of undisputed American champion. “There were a lot of subplots in this season that made it extraordinarily special,” Houston said. “Within the history of Kent rowing, one of the most successful crews ever and the best over the past 40 years was the 1972 crew. That one set the bar for all crews since, and it is kind of nice now to have a new crew in the boathouse that can do that.”
Houston, one of only four men to serve as the head coach of the program during its 88 years of existence, said he took great satisfaction in how this team came together.
The team included two rowers from the area in Christian Reynolds from Washington,
The Kent School first boat eight with coxswain Lauren Harvey directing the rowers finished second in the Princess Elizabeth Cup at the Henley Royal Regatta in England on July 4.
Conn., and Jordan Traub from Kent, but Houston considers the whole team home-grown since they all started rowing at Kent. The other members of the top boat included Alex Perkins and David Cerami from New York, Slava Chupryna from the Ukraine, Morgan Wheeler from California, Christian Naylor and Ricky Bouke from Greenwich and Lauren Harvey from Massachusetts.
“I sort of look on this squad as the result of a three-year campaign with some of the guys being in the boat for a couple years,” said Houston. “Things we did the past couple years led up to this point, including finishing as the third-place boat at nationals last year and making it to the quarterfinals at Henley. They raised the bar to another level for these guys, who got a taste of a high level of success and really went after it this year.”
Kent, the first American schoolboy crew ever invited to Henley, has been competing there regularly since 1927. Kent has won there six times, but hadn’t reached the finals since 1972, the last time it won a Henley championship.
Shortly after 1972, Henley instituted a rule that 19-year-olds were not allowed to compete in the schoolboy division. Many times since then, including last year, Kent either had to break up a boat or compete in a college division because there are routinely one or two 19-yearolds on the team.
Last year, with 19-year-old twin brothers on the team, Kent decided to move up and still reached the quarterfinals. Four of the rowers returned this season. The other four on this year’s boat also gained experience competing on an additional four boat at Henley last year.
“When they all came back this year, I knew they would be pretty good, but I didn’t know they would be this fast,” Houston said. “They were technically good, and about halfway through this season they really started to click and believe in each other. During the national championships, they were blistering fast. I’ve been coaching for 22 years, and this was my fastest crew ever.”
The great success at Henley was even more satisfying because Kent’s regular season coxswain, Pat Knorring, was ineligible because of his age. Knorring went with the team, nonetheless, and worked with Harvey, the third-boat coxswain, to help her develop a winning rhythm with the eight rowers.
“He would spend evenings after practices or early races listening to Lauren’s recorded racing of what she called during the race, and went over it with her,” Houston said. “He really taught her a lot about the guys in the boat and how to handle them and make the calls. He was a huge part of the success all year long, and an integral part of the behind-the-scenes success at Henley.”
Knorring also served as coxswain for another four boat of three juniors and a sophomore that competed up a division at Henley this year to gain experience for the future.
Houston said the program routinely draws 40 to 50 athletes each year that compete in four boats. He requires all crew members to play other sports the rest of the year so they cross-train, don’t burn out in crew and gain competitive experience.
The six seniors on the first eight this year will all row in college next year, but there is plenty of reason to be encouraged about the future of the program as well. “We’ve always been fairly successful but not to this level,” said Houston. “They keep getting faster over the years, which is very encouraging.”
Kent School coach Eric Houston talks with his first boat eight crew and its coxswain before they row against King Chester’s at the Henley Regatta in England on July 4. Kent finished second in the prestigious event.
Copyright (c) 2010 Republican-American 07/16/2010
