This past weekend, April 24-25, St. Mark’s Crew competed at the Texas Rowing Championships in Austin and won the State Championship in both the Men’s Quadruple Scull and the Men’s Lightweight Double Scull.

Racing in the Stephanie Barta, the team’s newest shell, St. Mark’s First Varsity Quad of Zac Cobb ’10, Keenan Garrett ’09, Jacek Zapendowski ’09, and Dylan Birch ’09 blazed across the finish line – 6 seconds ahead of Texas Rowing Center (TRC) and Rowing Club of the Woodlands. In addition to earning four gold medals, the quad brought home the Mullen Cup, which St. Mark’s has won seven times in the school’s history. St. Mark’s has now won the Mullen Cup more than any other rowing program in the state of Texas (previously, St. Mark’s and ESD were tied with six State Championships in the quad, respectively).

St. Mark’s First Lightweight Double of Charlie Brayton ’09 and Dylan Birch ’09 cruised across the finish line 17 seconds ahead of Texas Rowing Center, adding two more gold medals to the team’s count. Since the lightweight double was added in 2007, St. Mark’s has always won the event, and this is the third year in a row that St. Mark’s will keep the Forteith Cup at 10600 Preston Road. St. Mark’s Second Lightweight Double of Daniel Gillette ’10 and Adam Genecov ’09 also medaled in this event, finishing third in another tight finish against White Rock.

In addition to the two State Championships, the team as a whole had unprecedented success on Lady Bird Lake in Austin. For the first time in Coach Forteith’s tenure, St. Mark’s Second Varsity Quad (2V) competed in the Varsity Quad event against other teams’ first boats. Even though they were the only 2V competing against a field of 1V quads, they finished 4th overall, defeating both White Rock and ESD’s first boats and losing to TRC and the Woodlands by only half a second.

In the JV quad event, St. Mark’s 3V, 4V, and 5V quads competed against other teams’ 2V and 3V boats. For the first time in school history, all three quads raced well enough in their heats to advance to the Finals. It was quite a sight to see three St. Mark’s boats racing in a six-boat final! In a photo finish, St. Mark’s 3V quad of Robert Pruser ’11, Eric Wohlstadter ’10, Chris Kim ’11, and Adam Genecov ’09 edged out ESD’s 2V quad to take home the bronze.

Even St. Mark’s novice rowers found success on the water. The novice quad and two of the three novice doubles qualified for the finals, and the novice double of Nick Whitlow ’12 and Kenny Stokes ’12 added two more bronze medals to the team’s count. The final double to medal was the Varsity Double of Keenan Garrett ’09 and Jacek Zapendowski ’09, who took the bronze in the closest and most exciting race of the day.

Overall, St. Mark’s entered 14 crews at the Texas Rowing Championships, and 13 of those crews advanced to the Finals (the only crew that did not advance lost to another St. Mark’s Crew in the same heat). They brought home two of the four State Championship Cups and a total of 14 medals—6 gold and 8 bronze.

In two weeks, the top crews from St. Mark’s will return to Austin for the Central District Championships to compete against crews from Colorado, Nebraska, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, New Mexico, Texas, and Louisiana. There, they will attempt to bring home a Regional Championship and qualify for the USRowing Youth Nationals in Cincinnati in June.