Sunday, February 25, 2018

HRRC Erg Pull



The Hampton Roads Rowing Club held their annual regional erg pull in our gym on Saturday February 23rd. A few members of our team (and their families!) competed in various events. Others assisted in the concession stand (under our new 10' x 20' rowing tent!) or helped with the Catholic Middle School Science Bowl which was held concurrently.



Many folks posted personal records (PRs) for their 2000m times and for the first time we had enough competitors to enter the "team challenge" events at the end of the day. Setting PRs were the two Sean Ds., Charlie S., Jake K., Zach B., James J., Nicole H., and Ashley L.


Highlights include Sean D. dropping another 5 seconds from his performance the previous week at the Mid-Atlantic Erg Pull/WIRC, posting a time of 7:03.5 and taking a silver medal in the Junior Lightweights.  Also our four fastest guys (the two Sean D.s, Charlie S. and Jake K.) competed in the team challenge against two teams from Hickory and a team from Granby. They averaged a 1:45.2/500m pace and led for most of the race only to fall behind one of the Hickory teams in the last 100 meters. Considering all four of our guys are 11th graders and that two are actual lightweights, and that Hickory has been rowing since August, it was an outstanding effort.


On the girls' side Ashley L. put in an "Iron-woman" performance, competing in the 2000m Junior Women's event (setting a PR), then rowing in the 500m middle school event (since she is an eighth grader) and then joining Clare D., Margaret L., and Aubrey C. in the 1000m Women's Team Challenge.


Other notable performances were from Christian G. who won the 500m middle school event with a time of 1:45.3, his brother Patrick who finished second in the 250m elementary school event with a time of 1:08.3, and Kate K. who was swallowed up in a coxswain's jersey but completed the 250m row in a time of 1:25.2.

Enjoy some pictures of the agony and the ecstasy.




































Monday, February 19, 2018

Sean and Reilly at the World Indoor Rowing Championships


Sean and Reilly rep'ed Bishop Sullivan at the World Indoor Rowing Championships on Saturday and Sunday.

Bishop Sullivan got a shoutout among the hundreds of schools and programs that participated.

On Saturday, Sean competed in the 2000m row in the 18 yr old Junior Lightweight event. He blasted out at a torrid 34 strokes per minute and a 1:36.8/500m pace and was leading his heat halfway through. The commentator mentioned him by name in this clip.

Sean finished 24th but with a personal record of 7:08.5, and about 10 second shy of the school record of 6:58.0 set by Mike Farina in 2012 (and Mike was a heavyweight!)


On Sunday Reilly had a repeat victory, again winning her Junior lightweight women 20 minute row event as she did last year. In the shot below you can make out her lead on the big blue board. She in the "boat" near the bottom.




I note that she completed two back-to-back 2Ks,  each under 8:00 minutes, and then pulled another 4:00 minutes at about a 2:01/500m pace. A solid performance, especially considering she was "injured."

Her dad e-mailed me that: 


"Reilly won her event today with a 4994 m for the 20 min erg. That would be good enough for the all time record for the Mid Atlantic erg sprints.   

Reilly sustained a freak injury yesterday morning 5 minutes before the national anthem at the VISAA state swim meet. She was jumping with her teammates and twisted her ankle badly. I think she strained a tendon in her foot. She could barely walk. After a lot of icing she still competed in the 500 freestyle and was still able to make it to finals where she finished 16th overall and dropping time in finals. 

We didn't know if she was going to be able to compete today until we showed up this morning at the competition site. With a heavy dose of biofreeze she was able numb the pain enough to tolerate the it and still compete.

Today was a great experience for Reilly."


Congrats to both!


Friday, February 9, 2018

The Communications Post

Again this season I'll be using the Remind anonymous texting service. Please "subscribe" to the service by following the directions below.



 Thanks!