“This season’s been all about cementing a legacy,” Sixth Form captain Michael Bartholdson said.
Coming off the national championships at the varsity and JV levels last spring season, the team continues to push the limits of their achievements. This fall season, crew is training to compete—and win—on the national stage.
The Head of the Charles Regatta, located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is the world’s largest three-day rowing event.
“[Head of the Charles] is widely regarded as one of the most enjoyable regattas,” Fourth Former Benas Antanavicius said. “It’s an international regatta with teams from the [United Kingdom] and even Ukraine. Only the best teams come here.”
The team sent two boats to compete in separate categories for sweeping and sculling. Sixth Form captain Noah Kanefsky, Sixth Former Grey Benson, Bartholdson, and Antanavicius competed in the Men’s Youth Four sweeping event, coxed by Sixth Form captain Eddie Grant. Sixth Formers Ben Erskine, Quinn Sullivan, Charlie Gord, and Fifth Former Henry Biddison competed in the Men’s Youth Coxed Quad sculling event, coxed by Sixth Former Miguel Duska.
“It’s one of the few opportunities we have at Haverford to race at the club level,” Bartholdson said. “It’s a much higher level of competition. It’s a good way for our top boats to test their speed against the best in the world.”
Their mentality when preparing for the regatta is starkly different compared to last year.
“Last year we entered the regatta with almost no expectations of success and left with an impressive result,” Bartholdson said. “This year, we had a ton of expectations for ourselves.”
Antanavicius agrees. “We really were looking to medal or get a top five finish.”
On race day, the Men’s Youth Four hit the water to chase a medal.
“It was super memorable when we were all getting ready to race, and [the boats] all left the dock,” Antanavicius said.
The Men’s Youth Four encountered adversity on the water.
“Even though we were all rowing hard, I think our biggest problem was that we weren’t rowing well,” Antanavicius said.
The Men’s Youth Four placed fourteenth out of 90 entries, an impressive result against stiff competition. Still, Bartholdson was disappointed with the result.
“Even while having four seasoned, elite rowers and a masterful coxswain in the four, we didn’t perform as expected,” Bartholdson said. “Leaving the regatta, it definitely felt like we got small when the moment got big.”
Despite the challenges, their placement still stands as a stark achievement for their legacy. The Men’s Youth Coxed Quad placed ninth out of 50 entries, also performing against elite competition.
“We still produced the most impressive and successful result in Haverford history,” Bartholdson said.
But beyond the accolades and numbers of their season, the team is also looking to create a legacy through the team’s culture.
“The team dinners on the trip to the regatta are always a highlight of my year,” Bartholdson said. “It’s a great time to bond with teammates, coaches, and also just to reflect on the hard work we’ve been putting in.”
“We already have our eyes set on the Stotesbury Regatta in the spring,”
Micheal Bartholdson ’25
Although the crew team’s fall season comes to a close with the smaller Hidden River Chase, the hard work, or the team’s focus on achieving something great, does not stop during the winter.
“We already have our eyes set on the Stotesbury Regatta in the spring,” Bartholdson said.
The Stotesbury Cup is the largest high school regatta in the nation, in which the entire team races. Haverford Crew has a history of winning at Stotesbury – the team has won gold medals in a multitude of events and one trophy is named after the legendary late coach Jim Barker.
“If we want to win, we need to work,” Bartholdson said. “The message right now is that the work done in the winter produces the results in the spring.”
