For the past seven months, the Central Catholic Crew team has been rigorously training for their competitive spring racing season.  They have practice six days a week, sometimes with double sessions, and will often have to wake up at 4:00 am to get a practice in before school. The team puts in all of this work in order to win their competitions and ultimately, become national champions.  A rowing race, or regatta, brings teams from around the region into a highly competitive event in which the winner emerges with the highly coveted trophy and the notion of being victorious over their rivals.

There are eight major events in which Central Catholic will participate in during the 2017 spring season.  The Rustbelt Catholic Championships were held on April 1, 2017, on Lake Milton in Ohio.  The annual event brings rival teams from Pennsylvania, New York, and Ohio together to fight for the three trophies for different events.  Centrals largest rival, St. Ignatius, called out last minute due to sickness and the other teams, St. Edwards and Canisius, participated in the event.  Central won first place in all five events, on both the novice and varsity levels, and took home the trophies and the win.

The following week the team left from school on Friday morning to embark on the six hour bus ride to Middletown, Delaware, to participate in the annual Noxontown Regatta the following morning.  The team faced the competitive schools of St. Andrews, St. Augustine, Lawrenceville, Thomas Jefferson, and St. Joes Prep, all of which are honorable competitors.  On April 8, the team raced five boats in the regatta and with much success, won first place in three events and second place in the other two.  This accomplishment was an improvement from the prior year and from these results, the team seems to be on track to be competitive at the regional championships held in May.

The Central Catholic Crew team will travel to Buffalo, New York, on April 22 to participate in the Terhaar and Murray Cup.  This is the first time in several years that Central will be participating in this event and they are excited to have this opportunity.  They will be racing St. Joe’s Collegiate rowing team, an established program in the region.  The competition will be difficult but the results can be rewarding.

The Shrewsbury Cup and Paul G. Hamm Trophy events are held at Lake Marburg in York Country, Pennsylvania, on April 29.  The team will race Gonzaga, a well known team from Washington D.C., and Chaminade, a team from New York, in a highly competitive event.

On April 30, and May 3, there are two events that are held in Pittsburgh.  The Pittsburgh Scholastic Sprints and the Barbara M. Wiegand Cup are regattas that are consisted of several local crew teams.  Allderdice, Fox Chapel, Hampton, Upper Saint Clair, Mount Lebanon, Oakland Catholic, and the TRRA participate in this hometown event as well as Central Catholic.

The team works hard all year for these final regattas; every practice and every race is a rehearsal for these events.  The Midwest Scholastic Rowing Championship, which is the regional championships, and the Scholastic Rowing Association of America Championships, which is the national championships, are the ultimate goal of every rowing team.  Central Catholic has won at the regional almost every year since 2006 and have gone on to nationals.  They have one two golds, eight silvers, and three bronzes in the national championships and throughout their hard work and dedication, have establish an honorable crew program on the high school scholastic level.