Out of a field of 15 crews from Tidewater and Northern Virginia, the Mathews High School crew placed well enough in 13 out of 20 entries on Saturday to win the Owens Women’s Efficiency Points Trophy as well as the overall team points trophy at the 20th annual MHS Regatta at Williams Wharf. The MHS girls dominated the home regatta, winning five races, placing second three times and coming in third once. The small boys’ team, with only 11 rowers, managed two victories as well as two third-place finishes. Mathews started the day with the first eight event, as coxswain Morgan Hudgins joined Terra Markot, Sarah Bass, Catherine Robertson, Roisin O’Carroll, Jessica Fosdyck, Grace Shomaker, Kelly Farr and Kelsey Latimer to edge out Gar-Field by three seconds to place second behind First Colonial. Markot, Bass, Fosdyck, Robertson and Hudgins then moved to the varsity four, taking first by open water to beat Gloucester by over 13 seconds. Switching to sculling, Bass, Robertson, Latimer and Fosdyck formed quad A, while O’Carroll, Shomaker, Farr and Emily Ortiz made up quad B. In a six-boat race, the MHS-A boat pulled out to an early lead for the win, while the B boat came out strong during the settle to take second. Robertson, Shomaker, Farr and O’Carroll, along with coxswain Hudgins, combined to race the women’s second four. In a stroke-for-stroke battle, Mathews edged out First Colonial by 3.5 seconds for the win. Jumping in the light four, Markot, Melissa Hegamyer, Ortiz, Latimer, and cox Zack Swartz won by open water in a four-boat race. Bass launched next in the women’s single, placing second to Cox, while beating out Gloucester, J.E.B. Stuart, Gar-Field and Great Bridge. In the girls’ final sculling event, Bass and Fosdyck and Markot and Farr made up the two Mathews doubles entries. Bass and Fosdyck won easily, while the MHS-B entry placed third behind Stuart. For the MHS boys, Chris Lyell, Michael Bass, Kyle Jeffers and Tom Minogue, with coxswain Summer Johnson, won the second four by almost eight seconds ahead of Gloucester in a six-boat race. The MHS boys also won the last race, as Matt Thomas, Minogue, Bass and Garcia edged out Gloucester by 7/10ths of a second in the quad against Gloucester. Jeffers, Thomas, Ryan Rain- ville, Minogue and Swartz placed third in the first four race, while the MHS eight came in third in the fastest flight of three varsity races. The MHS novices ended their season, placing fourth in the mixed four, fifth in the men’s four and women’s novice four and sixth in the mixed novice eight. The William F. and Catharine K. Owens memorial trophies for men’s and women’s team efficiency points were initiated last year by the MHS crew program and the Mathews Land Conservancy to commemorate the Owenses’ significant support for their organizations and goals. Mathews won the Owens’ Women’s Point Trophy back this year with a fairly high point total. Last year, MHS women lost to Gloucester by a half of a percentage point. This time around, there was nobody close to the Lady Devils, winning with a score of 74.71 percent, with second place going to a much larger South County crew with a score of 67.74 percent. Although the MHS men were fourth of the 14 teams in men’s efficiency points, the combined percentages gave Mathews first in the total team points trophy standings. Mathews competes at the state championships at Occoquan on Saturday.
