The Mathews High School varsity crew capped off a successful rowing season with a strong performance in the 69th annual Canadian Secondary Schools Rowing Championships at St. Catherines, Ontario.

The MHS men’s senior four captured a silver finish out of 25 entries from Canada, the U.S. and Scotland, and the senior 63 KG women’s double placed sixth out of 23 entries. Mathews entered six events in the competition, which was held on June 6, 7 and 8, with those two boats making it all the way through preliminary heats and semifinals into the championship race to vie for gold.

Racing in the senior men’s four, Blue Devils Phillip Machen, Kyle Moran, Tucker Blackwell, Lance South and coxswain Kaitlyn Thompson won the fastest of four preliminary heats, advancing to Saturday’s semifinals. Mathews won again, posting the second fastest time of the two semifinals with a time of 7:05.385, behind local powerhouse Ridley College (7:05.086).

Racing in the final, Mathews, the...