Tennis photos courtesy of
Rick Hall '10

The Titans scored one run in the third inning, and in the fourth, junior Jimmy Shaw slugged his third homer of the season, a two-run blast over the left field wall. Senior Pat O’Hearn made a beautiful diving grab in left field to preserve SJJ’s lead.

On May 6, SJJ played a make-up game against the Woodward Polar Bears. SJJ rocked their opponents with 17 runs in the first four innings. They went on to win 17-1 with senior Alex Vollmar getting the win. Junior outfielder Nick Wasielewski went 3-for-5 with three runs scored.

On May 7, SJJ faced Start High School. On a rainy night, the two teams took the field with much motivation from each side. New head varsity coach D.J. Eckhart was facing his former team.

Coach Wardrop said, “It was very intense and very disappointing at the same time.”

Croak fully agreed with Coach Wardrop’s goals and added that SJJ should continue to “do the little things right.”

Crew

St. John’s Jesuit High School Crew Spring 2008
Coach's Report

The spring has been so wet that we were delayed until Sunday, 6 April, getting the Lagoon Dock inserted. We did get the River Dock inserted on 8 March. Needless to say having only one dock – 40 feet long and 10 feet wide – made launching and retrieving boats for seven high school rowing programs a bit of a challenge. Even more so, the launching of coach/safety boats was even more difficult.

The first “event” of the season – Saturday, 29 March - was a “scrimmage cum regatta” in Upper Arlington against, UA, Ignatius/Cleveland, CJRC, Fox Chapel, and Loyola/Chicago. After fewer than five days on the water the boys found out what they need to do. None the least of which is to “get more water under their fannies”.

The second “event” was the Cincinnati High School Invitational at Harsha Lake on the 2000 meter course. The weather was dry – fortunately – cold and windy – unfortunately. SJJ entered five events all of which had heats and SJJ had to come in third to advance in all but the V4 (first and second advance). Varsity Heavyweight 8 came in 4th. Novice 8 came in 4th. Varsity Hvywgt 4 came in 3rd. 2nd Varsity Hvywgt 8 came in 3rd and advanced. Novice 4 came in 3rd and advanced. By the time the finals rolled around the wind had picked up so much that the regatta committee cancelled all the “4’s” races. Coach decided that his 2nd V8 did not need to go out in the cold, windy conditions again and “scratched” the boat.

Third “event” was the Hoover Regatta in Westerville – 2000 meters. The morning dawned beautifully and until about noon we had sunny skies, very little wind and 60+ temperatures. Then the weather turned unpleasant – cloudy, windy (off and on), rain (off and on), and temperature dropped at least 15 degrees. SJJ entered N-4, V-4, Lwt-8, N-8, and V-8. Every boat but the V-8 made it to the finals. (Our V-8 is actually a Junior-8; we are grooming for the MidWest Championships). The Novice 4 – Atassi, the Ferguson twins, Armbruster, and Vora – was the only boat to win a medal and that one was GOLD!! The official results showed a .01 victory over second place. The number is a bit misleading since the boys won by at least three lengths of open water! Since that timing was obviously incorrect, I am not sure how accurate any of the rest of the reported timing is. The V-4 was 2nd in its heat and 5th in the final losing to CJRC. The Lwt-8 had only a final, came in 5th, losing to Westerville. The N-8 was 3rd in its heat and came in last in the final; the winner was New Trier. Winning time in the V-8 final was ostensibly 6:16 by Loyola of Chicago. There is a lot of work to do between now and MidWest Championships! Special Kudos to Malek Atassi and Cameron Ferguson who rowed three 2000 meter races. Two of their teammates – much to the disappointment of the coach - bailed out after their respective heats putting the heat on coach to figure out whom to race for a third time!

The fourth “event” was the Governor’s Cup Regatta on the Scioto River in Columbus. The day dawned cloudy with the promise of showers and, sure enough, we got ‘em. We also had wind. Fortunately the race course is very nicely sheltered so that the water stayed flat most of the day and by early afternoon the sun came out. SJJ entered five races. The Novice 4 came in third in their heat in a time of 8:21 and had to be second to advance to a final. Varsity Hvy 4 won its heat in 7:04 and placed second behind Upper Arlington in the final in a time of 6:51 – only 1.6 seconds out of first. Good race! Lightweight 8 had no heat, only a final, came in fifth in 7:32 behind Westerville in 6:21. Novice 8 looked fantastic in its heat winning it in 7:21. However, five of the six boats in the other heat had times faster than 7:21! (Yikes!!) And the boys came in fifth in the final in 7:29 behind Canisius from Buffalo, NY, which won in 6:42. And finally the Junior 8 racing in the Varsity Heavyweight 8 race (Only choice Coach had.) came in fifth in its heat, so that boat was done for the day. Coach informed those rowers that they were up against Varsity 8’s, and that I was grooming their boat for the next two weekends in which it would race as a Junior 8 against other Junior 8’s. Kudos to Captain Matt Barchick who jumped into that boat to sub for one of four young men who felt they had to stay home to take a practice AP History test at the school on Saturday morning. Next week: Scholastic Sprints north of Pittsburgh on Sunday.

Scholastic Sprints, Lake Arthur in Moraine State Park about 35 miles north of Pittsburgh, just off I-79. The weather was typical spring regatta weather: cold, and wet with a slight breeze. Happily by late morning the rain moved out, then the clouds, and by mid afternoon it was a beautiful sunny day. The venue is one of the best to view rowing because the fans can see all the way to the starting line, watch the races come toward them, and stand on the finish line (if they are so inclined). The viewing area is slightly sloped resembling an amphitheater to a certain degree. The course was 1500 meters – the first time the boats had raced this distance this season – all others had been 2000 meters.

Any how, the first race of the day for the Titans was for the Novice 8 stroked by Neal Naveen and coxed by Saurabh Mehta. The lads came n 4th (had to be 3rd to advance to the finals) in a time of 6:10. Winning time in their heat was 5:43. Second race was the Varsity 4 heat. Chris Ulrich stroking with Nick Ritter coxing coasted into first with a time of 5:47.2. In the final the lads showed a sprint, won the race in 5:07 (15 seconds ahead of second place! Wow!!) Novice 4 stroked by Malek Atassi and coxed by Uge Vora took second, one second behind North Catholic in the heat. Both boats qualified for the finals in which SJJ came in second with a crowd-roaring sprint from a distant 4th place in a time of 6:03 behind St. Ignatius which boiled the course in 5:43.

The LtWgt-8 and the Jr-8 had only finals to race. Since the maximum weight had changed from 155 per rower to 150 per rower for the lightweight event to match up with MSRA Championships, Coach asked the Mt. Lebanon coach – only two boats in the race initially – if we could hold to 155 and go ahead with a race. He agreed, but said if your boys do not make weight, no chance at a medal. I felt that the boys should be entitled to race, so we did, came in second in 5:42 behind St. Ignatius which had submitted a late entry and won in 5:23. The LtWgt-8 was stroked by Matt Emch and coxed by Ryan Hunt. Mt. Lebanon came in a distant third, but got the silver medal.

The Jr-8 stroked by Dan Barchick and coxed by Shane Hegde won its race in a time of 5:23, 10 seconds ahead of North Allegheny which was second. We awarded medals under the “Scholastic Sprints-2008” banner. It was a great day for SJJ rowing. We needed and got great performances out of everyone on the first day of 1500 meter racing and beginning of the week of preparation for MidWest Rowing Association Championships.

Lacrosse

The Titans defeated St. Francis 12-6 last week. Tonight (Monday) the Titans take on arch rival Sylvania at SJJ. Come on out and support the Titans at 6:00 pm!

Tennis

The Titans defeated Clay and Findlay this week. City League Championships are today and tomorrow at Jermaine Park. Come out and support the Titans on their way to another CL Championship!

Track and Field

The Titans traveled to Dayton this past weekend.

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Thanks to the Toledo Blade for some of the information listed.

*All Sports Trophy results shown above are unofficial.