St. Joseph’s Prep boys repeat as winners of senior eight event at the 99th annual Stotesbury Regatta

Headwinds on the Schuylkill River made it challenging to race on Saturday, but St. Joseph’s Prep has been navigating choppy waters all season long.

Despite being in the midst of a coaching change, St. Joe’s Prep repeated in the senior eight event at the 99th annual Stotesbury Regatta, with a finish of 4 minute, 51 seconds, which was just a little over two and a half seconds over the second place Montclair High School of New Jersey. St. Joe’s Prep also won the most medals overall (42 overall, 32 gold, 10 silver).

St. Joe’s Prep interim head coach Thomas Wedgwood said he was impressed with the boys’ ability to row upstream. Wedgwood, who has coached in four countries, said the development of junior rowing in the United States over the past decade has allowed for great competition on this level, which was on display this weekend at the Stotesbury Regatta.

“What you’ve seen in the past decade at the club level, is that it has really blossomed, and now you’re starting to see the Scholastic [level] really catch up too,” Wedgwood said. “Now those two merging together is creating some of the most competitive junior rowing that I’ve ever seen.”

The regatta, which takes place in St. Joe’s Prep’s backyard on the Schuylkill River, with the high school’s boathouse on path with the course, on Kelly Drive.

With high schools coming from all over the country, and even some from Canada, St. Joe’s had an outpouring of support from its community.

“We train every day, and so we feel very privileged that we have an opportunity to actually race all these crews from around the country in our backyard and be able to host them here,” Wedgwood said.

Edith Eglin, the 90-year-old great-granddaughter of Edward Stotesbury, who is the namesake of the regatta and of the boy’s senior eight trophy, was in attendance for the event.

She made the trip down from her summer house in Watchhill, R.I., to present the Prep with the Edward T. Stotesbury Cup. Wedgwood said it was a “privilege and an honor” to have Eglin there to present the trophy, especially as St. Joe’s Prep crew celebrated its 100th year while the regatta celebrated its 99th anniversary.

Eglin, whose late husband, Thomas Wilson Eglin, was dean of students at The Lawrenceville School in Lawrenceville, N.J., said she has a love for high school sports. And St. Joe’s Prep, who has won the boys senior eight in five of the last six Stotesbury Regatta’s.

“It’s a fabulously exciting event every year,” Eglin said. “The number of participants, the number of schools involved, the excitement of the families, and the and all the people who are watching it is infectious.”

But St. Joe’s Prep wasn’t the only repeat winner. On the girl’s side, Montclair won the senior eight with open water to claim the Robert Engman Trophy with a 5 minutes, 29 seconds showing. Mount St. Joseph’s High School came in second (05:35.14) with almost six seconds elapsed between the two boats.

Montclair dominated the competition through time trials and semifinals as well. While head coach Lorna Rundle knew she had a strong boat coming in and expected them to win, she didn’t expect it to happen in such a dominating fashion. She had a young group in the boat, with only three seniors. The seats were also filled with almost entirely different rowers from the Montclair boat that won the girls senior eight last year.

But once Rundle, who found it difficult to watch in person, saw her team come through the bridge on the livestream, she knew the girls “found the right rhythm.”

“It takes a lot of maturity to [race like that],” Rundle said. “I told them that it was the most beautiful race that I watched in a very long time. It was beautifully executed”

Montclair finished third in overall medal count with 32 overall, with the girls accounting for 14 of those.

“We’re a very, very small public high school,” Rundle said, “and to be competing at this level with all these huge programs, it makes us really proud.”