There’s plenty of intrigue around the U21 men’s eight at this weekend’s Wendouree Ballarat Regatta. Solely made up of crews from APS schools, the event offers crews outside the first eights to show just how quick they are.
With each school boasting at least three crews, this preview focuses on the top-rated crew from each. All crews in this event are also entered into a schoolboy eights event on the Saturday, providing excellent race practice ahead of the APS Heads of the River and the Australian Rowing Championships in March.
Brighton Grammar
The Thomas Creber-coached Brighton Grammar crew of Will Flannigan, Baxter Anderson, Flynn Quill, Henri Haycox, Luca Cleret, Hamish Hanley, Will Church, Jack Carson, and Henry Hofmann had a difficult time at the recent Barwon Regatta, finishing third in their heat behind Scotch College and Newington over 1500m. They performed well in the time trial at the 2025 Schoolgirls and Schoolboys Regatta, before fading in the heat and scratching before the final.
There was a stronger finish at the 2025 Melbourne Head Regatta a week earlier, finishing fourth behind Scotch College, Xavier College and Melbourne Grammar School over 3500m. Carson, Church and Haycox also bring experience from last year’s A finals at the APS Heads of the River and the Australian Rowing Championships.
Geelong College
Things might be looking up for Geelong College after a difficult time last season. Oliver Rahdon, Billy Manderson, Eamon Mitchell, William McColl, Liam Flanagan, Lachlan Hart, Hamish Connor, James McArdle, and Harry Neate finished fifth at the 2025 Melbourne Head Regatta after finishing last in 2024. That improvement continued in the 2026 Barwon Regatta, where they finished three and a half seconds behind a fast Xavier College crew. Coach Wayne Nitschke hopes improvement continues as they look to better last year’s bottom place at the APS Heads of the River.
Geelong Grammar
Geelong Grammar’s form hasn’t been strong this season after winning the B final at the 2025 APS Heads of the River and making the B-final at the Australian Rowing Championships. Their first crew of Harry Yencken, Hamish Yencken, Banjo Thompson, Austin Olney-Walker, Henry Church, Jack Lee, Henry Hinkfuss, Max Mills, and Michelle Law finished last at the 2025 Melbourne Head, then nearly eight seconds behind champions St Ignatius in their heat at the Barwon Regatta.
Melbourne Grammar School
One of two schools not bringing their top crew, Melbourne Grammar School, has mixed things up for this regatta. Their strongest crew features Max Leitch, Will Castine, Julius Blamey, Matthew Martyn, Sebastian McMeekin, Evyeni Velakoulis, Thomas Carter, Dooley Parsons, and Will Dowd, with Castine featuring in the first eight and Leitch, Blamey, McMeekin, Parsons and Dowd in the second eight this season. That second eight finished third at both the Melbourne Head and Schoolgirls and Schoolboys regattas at the end of 2025, suggesting a run at the A-final is not out of the question.
Interestingly, the first eight is amongst the best of the rest behind Scotch College, finishing second at the Schoolgirls and Schoolboys Regatta a week after finishing behind Scotch and Xavier Colleges at the Melbourne Head Regatta.
Scotch College
Last year’s APS Heads of the River champions are looking good to repeat in 2026, which may explain why their first eight aren’t competing this weekend. Instead, the second eight of Archer Buscombe, Hugh Davison, Auguste Baudens, Edward Lewis, James Abbott, Max McCool, Charlie Fortuna, Miller Bennett, and Lachie Downs will look to continue their strong form this season.
With only one loss so far – and that to Sydney’s St Ignatius at the recent Barwon Regatta – this crew will have the A-final in their sights. Their division 2 winning time at the Schoolgirls and Schoolboys Regatta in November would have placed them fourth in division 1, so don’t be surprised to see them closer to the front of the final than the back.
St Kevin’s
The crew that did finish fourth at the Schoolgirls and Schoolboys Regatta were St Kevin’s. Jack Sonnemann, Oliver Simpson, Mark Schwartz, Thomas Burrell, Darcy Foran, Daniel Evans, Nate Falloon, William Keller, and Joshua Hannon will hope for a reset after that fourth, which came a week after a sixth at the Melbourne Head. There were signs of encouragement in that fourth place, though: after finishing last in the time trial, they improved to third in the heat, narrowly beating a strong Xavier College crew.
Our prediction
This is a wide-open event with none of this season’s top three crews competing. Of the rest, Brighton Grammar looks to be best-placed to walk away with gold, with Scotch College’s second eight finishing second and Geelong Grammar just edging out St Kevin’s for the bronze.
