Christian Brothers Academy Crew returned to the Stotesbury Regatta, the oldest and largest high school rowing event, on May 20 and 21.

The Colts’ JV4+ and Varsity Lightweight 4+ boats, both undefeated this season, brought home the George Mattson Trophy, the Bill Belden Cup, and a boatload of gold medals with two first place finishes.

Its 186 entrants come from home waters as far away as Florida, Texas, California and Canada, pitting CBA against some of the strongest crews in the country. This is the second time in CBA Crew history that two Stotesbury trophies were won the same day, and its first win in the JV4+.

CBA launched six boats for two days of racing on the Schuykill River in Philadelphia starting Friday. Racing against as many as 51 competitors in their categories in a series of timed heats to qualify for the next round, some CBA boat crews raced up to three times over two days, competing in semifinals – two grueling 1500 meter races in one day.

The JV4+ rowed three times to secure the historic Mattson trophy, posting the best time in the finals against their field of 51 but also the top time of all the 4+ boats. In their qualifying heat, they rowed in a two by two time trial for one of 18 places in the semifinals, edging out second place finisher Edgewater, Florida by .4 seconds. In the final race, they beat Edgewater by posting a time of 05:03:06, nearly half a boat length, to walk the dock to collect the gold.

CBA’s Varsity Lightweight 4+, a mixed boat of seniors, juniors and sophomores, brought the Bill Belden Cup, named for a world champion rower, back to CBA. In their races, the boat extended their winning record and defeated rival St. Joseph’s Prep twice.

The Lightweights made it look easy, securing a berth in the finals, by gliding to a first place finish out of 12 competitors, with a time of 5:06.59. In the final, they shaved off more than seven seconds from their qualifying race, posting a time of 4:59.33 in the finals to stand on the podium and pick up the cup. It was a special moment for the boat's seniors Matt Welch and Joe DiBernardo savoring this triumphant end to their CBA rowing careers.

In the preliminary heats on Friday, four of CBA’s six boats made the cutoffs for the semifinals/final, a great outcome for the crew team. CBA’s Freshman 8+ was the first boat to row and the first to qualify for their semifinals. With a time of 4:44.26, they landed a solid 10th place finish from their field of 36, securing one of the finals berths originally reserved for the top 12 qualifiers. The Boys JV8+ boat also qualified for the semifinals with a time of 4:38.12, for a 5th place berth from a field of 37. The Boys Junior Quad was just edged out of a semifinal berth by a second, posting a time of 5:09.51, putting them at 13th out of a field of 27.

The Boys Senior Double boat rowed a victory lap at Stotesbury, coming in 13th in a field of 20, with a time of 5:48.49, just missing the finals by a second. The Boys JV8+ boat finished in 5th place in the finals, with a time of 4:42.86.

Because of their outstanding performance in this season’s racing, both of CBA’s winning 4+ boats and the JV8+ qualified for the Scholastic Rowing Association Championships Regatta, a national championship, and will return to the Cooper River on May 27-28th.

2a. Boys Freshman 8+ (Qualifying Heat: 4:44.26, 10th place)
Hackel
Madpak
Keavey
Feeney
McMahon
Blasucci
Donato
W. Vieth
Burke (Coxswain)

6. Boys JV4+ (George Mattson Trophy, 1st Place: 5:03.06; Semifinal 1st Place: 4:37.77; Qualifying Heat, 1st Place: 4:46.45)
Friend
Vieth
Larrabee
Avery
Daniels (Coxswain)

10a. Boys JV8+ (Final under protest, 5th Place 4:42.86; Qualifying Heat, 5th place 4:38.12)
A.Tapinis
Taylor
Laffin
Giacona
Alekshun
Lee
Stastney
Matuch
Govignon (Coxswain)

13a. Boys JV Quad 4x (Qualifying Heat, 13th place 5:09.51)
Ferguson
Penczak
McGuire
McGuiness

15. Boys Varsity Lightweight 4+ (Bill Belden Cup, 1st Place: 4:59.33; Heat, 1st place 5:06.59)
Welch
Dibernardo
DiVita
Amyot
Lasko (Coxswain)

20a. Boys Varsity 2x (Qualifying Heat, 13th place: 5:48.49)
Gazdus
Demetriades