Stotesbury Cup notes

One thing seems to remain the same at the Stotesbury Cup Regatta: Malvern Prep wins the boys' senior quad.

Malvern Prep won the race for the fifth year in a row Saturday. The team of Pat Donohue, Austin Bury, Alec Somers, and Dan Schwarz raced home ahead of the field in 4 minutes, 21.69 seconds.

"It's hard to do with such great competition," Malvern Prep coach Craig Hoffman said.

Outside lane winner. Moorestown's junior four of Andrew Hendrickson, Kevin Shaloo, Bill Roman, Matthew O'Donnell, and coxswain Jack Sencindiver won its race despite competing in Lane 5.

They were the only team outside of Lanes 2, 3 and 4 to win a final. The lane assignments are based on times in the semifinals.

"They got their bad row out of the way in the semis," Moorestown coach Rich Henderson said. "They brought it in the finals. They defied the odds."

Sibling differences. Rowing is a family affair for the McCools of Blue Bell.

Three McCool siblings have rowing in common. They just don't have a school in common.

Rebecca McCool, a junior, rows for Mount St. Joseph. Freshman twins Christopher and Matthew also row - for St. Joseph's Prep and La Salle, respectively.

Matthew McCool had the edge on his siblings Saturday. His boat was the only one to make a final, as La Salle's freshman eight finished third in its race.

Soaring Spirit. Holy Spirit's lightweight eight set a school record in winning its race.

The team of Lauren Marienski, Nicole Maslowas, Katie Bainbridge, Tori Light, Sofia Iaconelli, Breann Leithmann, Shannon La Sala, Ashley Peterson, and coxswain Kierston Stone finished in 4:49.12.

"We finished second here last year," Holy Spirit coach Rory Roberts said. "We lost five seniors and replaced them with five sophomores. We said we were going to win Stotesbury or bust."

Flying freshmen. The most dominant team in the finals might have been the St. Joseph's Prep freshman eight, which won its race by more than two boat lengths.

"This is really a committed group," Prep freshman eight coach Dan Kilpatrick said. "Anything you ask them to do, they do."

On a day when the Prep won three of the four eights in which the team was entered, the freshmen's performance indicted the future is bright, too.

"To see the smiles on their faces is awesome," Kilpatrick said. "They don't know what to do with themselves."