By Brian Conley_________________________________________________________
Well as predicted this season has already seen a large amount of success from our athletes. For the women, it came with competing in the most prestigious event known as the Varsity 8+ and winning two races and placing in the top 3 in two other races. The women also saw victory in the Lightweight 4+ to close out the Flicks. Those athletes have showed that hard work, when it is done all year, really does pay off. How great it feels to rise to a challenge such as racing on the Varsity 8+ level and beating some of the traditional crews that are known to be fast like Prendie and Atlantic City. The Men also found a new level of success as well.

The Varsity Heavy Men placed 2nd in two races and being right in the mix of everything as far as their time was concerned to place them well in the upcoming medal races. The Lightweight Men have really set the stage this year for success. Defeating crew after crew by rather large margins and also in nail-biting come from behind wins as well. They have raised the bar of success and have positioned themselves extremely well for the medal races.

Despite these individual boat successes, the team as a whole has defined itself as a great strength in sweep rowing in two years time. With the Flicks being over now, the Team Point Trophy was awarded to the large teams of St. Joseph's Prep and also Mount St. Josephs. Our rather small team, which does not put out as many boats as most of these crews placed seventh overall in
the standings. Our men and women are ahead of schools like Haverford, Father Judge, Mainland, and Agnes Irwin. It is something that the athletes should be proud of as they are considered to be one of the best teams in the tri-state area.

We are on the right path to give us the best finish in recent memory for Lower Merion Crew.
Now Let's Bring Home Some HARDWARE!!

By David Greenspan_________________________________________________________
It was wet and a little chilly in the morning, but the men's early races went off without a hitch. Lots of water flowing down river from the rain the day before made for fast times. There was essentially no wind either, perhaps a light headwind started up by the time the last of the men's races came downstream. I missed the Ladies rowing today, but did have the chance to ask Kate Freeland if she would send me a report.

GO MEN'S VARSITY LIGHTWEIGHT 4+!!!! The first race of the day and the men proved unstoppable once again winning in 4:38.4, a full 7 seconds ahead of Egg Harbor. The other heat was won by Belleville in 4:45.. 5 Flick races, 5 wins. This one was easy according to Steve Krajewski, "We had a length on the field by the bridge and basically coasted for the remainder of the race." Chris Policastro, bow seat had a different perspective, "I was a little nervous with Egg Harbor calling all those 'power tens'. I thought maybe we would have to fight to hold them off". Evidently, all those 'power strokes' just exhausted that crew in their effort to keep up. Aaron Greenspan explained it this way, "We usually plan our 'moves' ahead of time, but can adjust the timing based on what the other crews are doing. Counting 'power strokes' really gets the guys going, so when we need a boost to put someone away or crush one of their moves, I would call for a power 5 or power 10". I don't know when LM Crew had a boat winning all 5 Flick races. So now its time to see how they fair in the medal races beginning with the NJ Scholastics next Saturday.

The varsity heavy men 4+ came in second with a time of 4:45.5 beating LaSalle in third by 0.1 seconds. What a race! From the bank, it looked like they were a good length or more behind LaSalle at the 1/2 way mark and moved on them with their big move at the 750 mark. But without word from their Cox, Michael Abrams, I won't know for sure. What is certain, is that they were really competitive in this race, with a time that would have put them in the front 1/2 of any of the heats.

The Frosh 4 had their troubles in front of the island where we all get to watch. Their buddies in the Frosh 8 looked smoother coming across in front of the tent. Both crews have room for improvement and have clearly benefitted from their double sessions.

The LADIES did some fine rowing today as well. I can't tell you much without hearing from eyewitnesses, but the times do tell the tale. The Women's LV4+ kicked the tush of three other crews, winning their race in 5:20. That's their first win of the season, the spring break training clearly making its mark. Go Ladies! The V8+ was in the toughest heat of their event, taking third a length behind second place Ocean City. Also in a tough battle, just falling short to Ocean City was the Frosh 8+, taking 4th in their event. The JV4+ had a head race that started as the wind picked up and the clouds started to clear away. Though they took 13th, there is lots of time to move up in the rankings between now and the Stotesbury in 4 weeks.

The gains in strength from spring break brought the Women's Varsity 8+ to a solid third place finish in the top heat of their event with a time of 4:42.46, finishing behind Mount Saint Joseph (4:31.01) and Ocean City (4:35.44) and ahead of Episcopal Academy (4:46.49) and Prendergast (4:50.98). The girls looked solid throughout the race but unable to find the rhythm they had established over their spring break training.

The Women's Lightweight 4+ captured their first victory today with a time of 5:20.40, besting Harriton (5:24.00), Roland Park A (5:31.84), and Baldwin (5:39.42). The ladies looked solid and consistent throughout their race, finding a nice rhythm early on and continued it for the whole of their race. This win was a first for the women in the lightweight category and also a first for the majority of the rowers in the boat. Congratulations ladies.

All the race results can be reviewed HERE

	Frosh Men's 4