The three Mathews High School boats competing in last weekend’s 86th annual Stotesbury Regatta in Philadelphia failed to advance to the finals in their respective categories, but picked up some valuable racing experience along the way.

Two of the MHS boats—the men’s senior four and the women’s junior quad—did make it past preliminary heats to compete in the semifinals.

The men’s senior four of Zach Payne, Cole Johnson, Phillip Machen, Andrew Merz and coxswain Trevor Thomas finished 10th out of 47 entries in the time trials. In the semi, Mathews missed the finals by less than a half of a second. Although the Devils had the fifth fastest time (4:46.15) overall in the three semifinals, they didn’t earn a spot in the championship race.

The women’s junior quad of Maddison Haynes, Ashley Payne, Jamie Robins and Taylor Williams scored the eighth fastest time (5:28.83) of 19 teams to move ahead to one of two semifinal races. The girls’ hopes ended there as they finished fourth out of six entries.

Jayvee rowers Adrian Phillips, Gus Bauby, Tucker Blackwell, Matt Oliver and cox Logan Howlett competed against 61 schools in the men’s junior four event. The boys did not advance after placing 34th in their time trial.

"It was a hard pill to swallow to watch our men’s senior four miss finals by .48 of a second in such a tight field," coach Tim Ulsaker said. "This young team needs experience like this to gain the focus needed to train successfully for national and international events."

The MHS rowers will continue training to race in the 67th annual Canadian Schoolboys Championships that will be held at St. Catherines, Ontario, in two weeks.