By Brian Conley_______________________________________________________________
Two days. Two days of nerves and adrenalin pumping through the veins of the athletes, coaches, and parents as everything that the team has worked for is coming together. It started off with the freshmen women's eight who came blazing down the course at a high rating of 37spm. However, this was not enough to place them in the semi finals for Stotesbury. The JV Men and Women raced their best races of the season and continued to fight despite the enormous amount of new crews. They both finished in the middle of the pack but were unable to make the semi-finals. They did their best on the days it counted and left no regrets. The lightweight men and the lightweight women looked clean and smooth as they came down the course during their time trials. They fought through and passed several crews. The Lightweight men filed a protest on the water which was acknowledged and upheld as they tried to pass a crew who would not move out of their way costing them extra time. Despite this one protest, both boats made it to the semi-final with the times that they posted. The Varsity Men took off in their time trial and despite a small crab in the first few strokes showed what they could do throughout the course. It was the best performance of the boat all year long and nearly placed them in the semi-final, but missed out by a mere .04 seconds, which is a blur of a distance from making the semi where they would have showed another outstanding race. The Varsity Women came flying down the course as they led the pack in their time trial starting off first. They quickly and easily moved away from the field in the first few strokes and continued on into the semi final.

The lightweight women put on the show of the day in their semi as they approached the last 500 meters. They were dead even across for the last spot in the final with two other crews. The girls took a gutsy move and tried to sprint a little early hoping it would pay off. The other crews thought the same thing and with 200 meters left it was still barely even with LM a bow ball ahead. Lane 2 however took two really solid strokes to take the lead back, placing our ladies out of the finals. It was an outstanding effort and show of desire. The lightweight men were placed in the final with the Canadian crews, who only show when they are lightning fast. The Men held right with them for the first 750meters. Being in lane 6 with slightly slower water really showed, as the other crews really began to move out on the lightweights placing the men 5th in the semi and out of the finals. The Varsity women were neck and neck the majority of the way down the course in their semi. While trailing the lead crews into the last 500 they tried to make a fight for a spot in the final. Unfortunately, the lead crews pushed out a little too far at the 1250 mark to be able to reel them back in by the finish. The women placed 5th in their semi final.

It was a good showing by Lower Merion, despite not making the finals. There were more crews in the semi-finals this year than in recent years for the LM team and shows how the team is growing stronger overall and not just a single boat at a time. I am extremely happy with the way the crews conducted themselves and left no regrets on the river. There will be several crews that will be heading to Nationals. The Women's lightweight and Varsity (Open) fours will be traveling to Mercer County Lake in NJ along with the Men's Lightweight Four. The Women's Frosh 8 and Varisty Men's 4+ are waiting on confirmation of their entries. It will be a race to be watched by all. Please come and support the team as they have earned and will be racing for the National Championship next weekend on Friday and Saturday. See you all there.

By David Greenspan _______________________________________________________________
A rain soaked day at the Schuykill for Day 1, with LM Crew trying to get into the heats, and then on towards the finals. So how did our boats fair? I can only give you results, not impressions as I had to work all day and miss all the fun, sweat, and tears. Day 1 showed how far the program has come from those first dark cold days in March. 3 boats advanced past the head races. Many were soooo close, like the Men's V4 that missed the 18th spot by 0.04 seconds! The Lightweight women's 4 and the Lightweight men's 4 put in a good effort in their highly competitive heats, but neither made the finals.

Day 2 the weather was much improved, clear, cool and a little tail wind started picking up. The Ladies V4 was the only boat left as their heat didn't go till after 11:00 am. The 'head race' leading to the heats had them in 10th, with a cluster of boats close to that top 6 slot. They drew wind swept lane 5. Watching from finish line it appeared our ladies were close to the second place boat through the middle of the race, by the island they were clearly in 5th and that is where they ended.

Next week, a few of our crews that have placed in events during the season will be off to National's at Mercer Lake, Princeton. The Ladies V4, Light 4 and the Men's Light 4 are definitely in. Whether the Men's V4 and Frosh 8 get to go will be decided by the Scholastic Rowing Association later this week according to Brian. It would seem that for all of our kids, taking off the pressure and playing the underdog "we have nothing on the line" or "spoiler role" will carry them on for this last week of the season. For more details go to the 2005 Scholastic Nationals web site.

HEAD RACE results report final time and split from first place.

Race #3, Girl's Freshmen Eight -- 18 to heats
24 of 36.. 5:50.64 -- 32.22
Race #5, Boy's Junior Four -- 18 to heats
36 of 57.. 5:44.26 -- 27.17
Race #6, Girl's Junior Four -- 18 to heats
35 of 52.. 6:20.95 -- 33.15
Race #13, Boy's Lightweight Four -- 18 to heats
18 of 38.. 5:24.11 -- 17.56
Race #14, Girl's Lightweight Four -- 18 to heats
9 of 28.. 5:59.25 -- 14.89 9
Race #23, Girl's Senior Four -- 18 to heats
10 of 49.. 5:50.62 -- 16.81
Race #24, Boy's Senior Four -- 18 to heats
19 of 41.. 5:22.37 -- 20.17 (0:00.04 out of 18)

THE SEMIS on Friday and Saturday

Race #51, Boy's Lightweight Four Event 13 Semi 1

Place  Lane          Name              Team           Time    Split 
  1      3   Dan Downie            E.L.Crossley      4:59.80        
  2      4   Kevin Burrows         Bonner            5:04.04    4.24
  3      2   Phil Henson           Hun               5:08.35    8.55
  4      1   Matt Mclain           Lake Brantley     5:13.46   13.66
  5      6   Adam Goetz            Lower Merion      5:18.30   18.50
  6      5   Daniel Douglass       Woodson           5:21.17   21.37

Place  Lane          Name              Team           Time    Split 
  1      3   Alex Stellato         Saratoga          5:39.07        
  2      5   Maddie Grant          Shipley           5:43.40    4.33
  3      2   Molly Jankolovits     Montclair         5:48.65    9.58
  4      1   Kelly Milsop          Lower Merion      5:50.33   11.26
  5      4   Ali Gage              Westdale          5:52.11   13.04
  6      6   Stephanie Keller      Winter Park       6:05.25   26.18
    

Place  Lane          Name              Team           Time    Split 
  1      3   Anna Walter           Hun               5:27.09        
  2      4   Michelle Franchi      Upper Merion      5:34.10    7.01
  3      2   Mollie Welty          Woodbridge        5:38.11   11.02
  4      1   Jennifer Tsai         Woodson           5:40.02   12.93
  5      5   Michal Trope          Lower Merion      5:43.25   16.16
  6      6   Maria Oldiges         Our Lady Lourdes  5:45.58   18.49