The new Seattle Prep crew team has led off its first year as an official organization with a strong start. Despite the fact that the group may lack the experience and chemistry that most other school teams have been able to build up over the year, Prep’s team, the majority of whom are underclassmen, have done far more than what was expected of them, already starting to emerge as a competitive presence at major regattas.
Just two weeks ago, the team took their skills to Brentwood, Canada, to compete in one of, if not the, biggest Northwest regional events. Because of unfortunate scheduling for the races, the team had to “hotseat” – meaning that the boat never had downtime between races – for a total of four hours, a stretch far longer than any other team had to endure through. For Prep, this meant that the team would simply switch up a few of its crew members after every race with no rest or time to decompress, turning the event into more of a “marathon” event than the traditional “sprint.” One member of the team Aedan Brown ‘19 did not leave the boat for three and a half hours, a truly outstanding feat of endurance and a representation of the drive and determination that has surfaced for the team.
Jack Clancy ’16 is trying crew for the first time with this program, and praised the resilient nature of the team and the communal atmosphere it has built over the season. He not only has quite a few new tan lines and has built up a great amount of strength from the hard workouts, but has also made many new connections and had quite a few new experiences that were truly unique to the Prep crew team.
When discussing the team’s stellar performance at Brentwood, Clancy noted: “The fact that we still did well in all of those races and even walked away with a medal is truly a feat of wonder and speaks to the resilience and drive of the team.”
In addition to having quite a successful season – often qualifying quad lineups for the preliminaries and finals of regattas as well as other numerous accomplishments – the team has set a high bar for years to come. With its relatively young team, the group certainly has every reason to be hopeful, and every reason to look forward to its upcoming crew seasons.