2025 Stotesbury Cup Regatta – Boy’s Second Eight Preview

For the first time, the Stotesbury Cup Regatta will serve as a USRowing Youth National Championship qualification regatta. The top two crews from each qualifying event will receive bids for the National Championship later this June. In 2025, twenty-one scholastic eights will race for the Hammer Trophy and a shot at entering the USRowing Youth National Championships.

St. Joseph’s Prep

St. Joseph’s Preparatory is a powerhouse in men’s rowing. The programme brought silver back to Philly last year, with the varsity eight finishing second at USRowing Youth National Championships. At Stotesbury, St. Joe’s boasts the most wins in boys varsity races. Prep’s second eight has won the last two consecutive years. At Stotesbury this year, Prep will stay out in front, perhaps looking more towards June and racing down in the Sunshine State.

Gonzaga College High School

Based out of Washington, DC, Gonzaga is a perennially strong programme. However, a Stotesbury record of silver in both 2023 and 2024 must feel bitter for the programme playing second fiddle to Prep. On the upside, Gonzaga has dominated the other competition, winning the WMIRA Championship eight for the past two years. Additionally, a strong showing at the 2024 Head of the Charles saw three members of the second eight crew place twenty-seventh out of ninety in the coxed four event. With experienced athletes, Gonzaga should put on a good challenge at Stotesbury.

Jackson-Reed High School

Another programme from the nation’s capital, Jackson-Reed also has a strong pedigree in this event. Jackson-Reed placed fourth in 2024 and fifth in 2022 at the Stotesbury Cup Regatta. 2023 was a year to forget, where a stunning fourteenth place in the time trial prevented the crew from progressing further. Earlier this May, Jackson-Reed won the second eight event at the WMIRA Championship, suggesting they have been pushing away from competition. It will be interesting to see how things shake out for Jackson-Reed at Stotesbury, a programme still balancing top-end speed and squad depth.

Notable Mentions

The rest of this twenty-one-boat field is strong. St. Andrew’s School has placed sixth for the past two years at Stotesbury. At the WMIRA Championships, St. Andrew’s placed third in the first eight, within a second of Jackson-Reed at silver. St. Andrew’s should be a strong contender this year, with the programme building speed through the season. Another candidate to look out for is Yorktown High School. What the programme lacks in top-end speed, it makes up for in depth. At the VASRA Championship earlier this May, the second varsity eight claimed bronze, beating out the known contenders, McLean High School. With scholastic rowing, the lower boats are somewhat unpredictable, and not a single one of these crews should be counted out.

Predictions

Despite the speed of some rising programmes being unclear, Saint Joe’s and Gonzaga should repeat last year’s result to claim positions one and two. Next, I predict Jackson-Reed in third based on a strong performance at the WMIRA Championships. The rest of the field should be close racing, and some upsets are in order. Despite this, I place St. Andrew’s School in fourth. Following multiple years of just scraping the final, the chaos of this year may finally allow them to move up. To round out the Stotesbury boy’s second eights, I predict Yorktown in fifth, as a programme building depth.