When the Kent School Boat Club pulled away from Lake Waramaug on April 28, it had a win under its belt; the boys’ first and second boats had both beaten Phillips Exeter Academy with seats to spare.

After a quick warm-up on the surprisingly calm day, first boat went on to beat Exeter 4:24.2 to 2:30.8. With no rain and little wind, they plugged away to the finish line with few hitches.

For the second boat, 3-seat rower Jonas Schemm ‘20 said the race felt like a solidification of their win over Phillips Academy Andover two weeks prior, after a rocky beginning of the season, with consecutive losses to Lawrenceville and St. John’s. After a strong start this week, they were caught dead even with the Exeter crew, when coxswain Tyler Krasusky ‘20 called their sprint early, at around 1100 meters, and pushed the crew to a win by just 4 seats, or 4:36.9 to 4:38.3.

The third-boat race is where the excitement of the day lay; they began their race down a full length to the opponent’s boat, when, at the 1000 meter mark, an Exeter rower caught a crab. Their blade was “caught” in the water and the oar slipped over his head. By the time the boat had recovered, Kent had taken a small lead. By the last 300m, they were again neck and neck, and the race came down to the last stroke, with the Exeter crew winning by just 0.3 seconds, at 4:49.8 to 4:50.1.

The fourth boat race began with Exeter taking an early lead, from which the Kent crew could not recover, eventually losing 5:04.7 to 5:11.8. 4-seat rower Andrew Panzarella ‘18 said that the boat is still coming together as a crew, and the trust that needs to exist between rowers is still developing. With the third and fourth boats still seat-racing during practices, the constantly-evolving lineups makes that difficult.

While the boys’ varsity boats came away with a win, the final trophy of the day went to Exeter. The final prize was a points trophy that combined the KSBC (boys’ team) and KGBC (girls’ team) results. With the girls’ first boat taking the only KGBC win, the trophy went to Exeter after eight hard-fought races.