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4/30/07Rowing
St. Mary's wins 16th Hebda Cup
By Dan Sahutske
Photos Final Points
WYANDOTTE--On Saturday, Orchard Lake St. Mary's Crew won the annual Hebda Cup Regatta at Wyandotte under sunny skies, and on calm water. It was a great day for the race that crowned this year's state champions in Michigan high school rowing. The Hebda Cup has been the state championship in rowing for over thirty years.
The St. Mary's Eaglets continued their domination of the sport, winning their 16th Cup, and 13th in the last 14 years. This win was especially sweet after having lost the Cup last year to a very good crew out of Forest Hills Central, and it being the first year under a new head coach John Ray.
Early in the week, Coach Ray said that he heard that Ann Arbor Pioneer was looking very good, and the talk was that they were the team to beat. He and his coaches kept their rowers focused on being their best, because they felt other competition was so good that Pioneer was not the only threat they faced.
After a tough dual race with St. Ignatius on Saturday, April 21, St. Mary's went back to work and made a better showing at the Hebda Cup than they did the year before, when they lost the trophy to a very tough Forest Hills Central crew.
One of the biggest factors to St. Mary's victory on Saturday was that they were able to qualify one, and in some cases two boats in every final race. The finals were where the crew really turned it on.
St. Mary's had wins in the novice 4, the 150 pound 8, the junior 4, and the junior 8.
“Four wins in eight races is pretty good in this business, and in all events we finished no lower than third.” said Coach John Ray. He continued, “That doesn't just look good for this year, it is a good sign for our future.”
St. Mary's placed a boat in the points in each of the eight races. They had four 1 st place finishes, three 2 nd place finishes, and three 3 rd place finishes. In the men's
lightweight 8, they were able to finish 1st and 3rd .
Crew is the quintessential “team” sport. There is no sport where working together as a team is as essential. There are no stars in rowing, only teams, and Saturday's win for St. Mary's is no exception, they won it as a team, with great performances by everyone involved.
" It was a great team effort,” said Coach John Ray. “We were able to gain points in every event, every part of our program; novices, 150 pounders, and the heavyweights, brought in points and had at least one victory."
St. Mary's prepares this week for next week's WiHi Regatta in Wyandotte . They hope to do very well in preparation for the Midwest Regional's in Cincinnati, Ohio the following week, then Nationals for those that qualify.
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