A host of second-and third-place results vaulted Brentwood College School to fourth overall and first place among school teams at last weekend's Brentwood Regatta.
Brentwood ranked seventh among senior teams (fifth in senior boys and eighth in senior girls), and third among junior teams (third in both junior boys and girls) to place fourth overall. Vic City Rowing Club topped the overall rankings, followed by a pair of Seattle-area clubs: Pocock Rowing Centre and Sammamish Rowing Association, in second and third.
Brentwood regularly tops the school standings, and was thrilled to accomplish that feat once again.
"We were quite happy with our results," said Debbie Sage, Brentwood's head of rowing and longtime regatta chair. "We had great results from all of our crews this weekend."
Brentwood didn't win any races outright, but climbed the standings thanks to several silver and bronze finishes.
"That's how we accumulated a lot of our points this weekend," Sage acknowledged.
Brentwood came second in eight races: the senior men's school eight, senior men's eight, senior 3V men's eight, junior men's coxed quad, junior JV men's coxed quad, junior men's four, and junior women's lightweight women's eight.
The host school also placed third in two senior women's races: the double and school eight.
Nearby rival Shawnigan Lake School earned three medals, finishing first in the senior men's four, and third in the senior women's single and four.
Shawnigan finished 18th in the aggregate standings, while the Maple Bay Rowing Club was 22nd in a field of 36 clubs from Canada and the U.S. "We had a very competitive field rowing this weekend," Sage said. "A lot of crews stepped up."
Brentwood's senior men's and women's eights boats qualified for the prestigious Opening Day Regatta in Seattle this Saturday, where they hope to replicate their strong results from last weekend.
"It will be good, because they'll be racing against the crews they raced against this weekend," Sage said. "So we'll see who comes out ahead."
Windy conditions threatened to cause problems for the regatta, but organizers found a way to deal with them, running some of the heats as timed finals.
"It was a great regatta, other than the weather shutting us down on Saturday after 12:30 p.m.," Sage commented. "We managed to run all the races on Sunday. Everybody raced who was supposed to."
The 44th annual Brentwood Regatta drew 1,647 athletes - along with hundreds of coaches, volunteers and spectators. Numbers have been similar for the last three or four years, and Sage conceded that they've probably maxed out.
"I think we're at our limit," she said. "I'm not sure where we'd put them."