No Complaints Here

Needless to say, it was an emotional day on the race course yesterday. After a pre-final night of biting fingernails, fidgeting in our seats, and feeble attempts to ignore the growing tension so that we may snag at least a couple hours of precious sleep (hours which, inevitably, were spent dreaming about what successes, or failures, tomorrow might bring), we did indeed arise rather well rested. Rested, but fully aware that the next few hours had the potential to bring some of the most monumental events of our rowing careers.
Pre-race time tends to bring out sides of one's crew mates that you would normally not ever see. This particular pre-race brought to the table levels of focus that would seem difficult to reach in any other situation. The gravity of all that lay behind, and even more so, ahead, weighed heavily on us all, forcing us to summon up strength and courage from very distant, and perhaps frightening, parts of ourselves. It may be argued that in the 30 minutes before the final at Henley, one can learn more about himself and his boatmates than he would ever have imagined. Welcome to the show.
They say to embrace the nerves that begin to take over during those agonizing minutes on the starting block. It doesn't seem to make very much sense, really. Everyone has experienced anxiety. Multiply by a hundred that normal, everyday, "I'm late for work!" tension, and stick it right down deep inside your core, and you may begin to see how massive a task it is to convince yourself that you need these nerves to perform at your optimum level. Well, I assure you, in this department we were not found wanting.
We rowed the race of our lives yesterday. We knew we would have to, and in that last split second between when the flag dropped, and when our bodies kicked into action, all that we had learned from our coaches, our teammates, and most importantly, ourselves, allowed us to do just that. We can confidently say that Eton did the exact same thing.
No one ever really rows a perfect race. Not even in the Princess Elizabeth Cup Final at Henley-On-Thames in Oxfordshire, England. What was perfect about our race yesterday was the desire, the will, and the courage in both lanes of the course. We could not have been beaten by a classier group of guys. As I'm sure they would say for us, it was our privilege to race a crew that demanded nothing short of their best performance.
July 3rd, 2005, was a day that we will remember for the rest of our lives. It has been our greatest pleasure to compete under the leadership of some of the best coaches around, and with the support of so, so many. We would like to deeply thank everyone for the incredible opportunities provided to us throughout this memorable season. Best of luck to Prep Crew in years to come.

Sincerely,

the St. Joesph's Prep Varsity 9, 2005

Mark DelGuercio, Pat Dewechter, Brad Adams, Andrew Golda, Mike Lombardi, Mike Gennaro, Matt McGowan, Kenny Ewell, and John Connolly