Even though it was cut short by hazardous boating conditions yesterday, the Baltimore high school rowing championships made just as many waves out of the water as in it.
Only four of the scheduled 10 varsity races were rowed, and one of them - the second heat of the women's novice four - remains the subject of two protests.
St. Paul's School for Girls ran away with the heat in 5 minutes, 32.2 seconds. Baltimore Rowing Club followed more than 30 seconds behind.
A protest was filed - event organizers wouldn't say by whom - that the St. Paul's rowers were too experienced to be novices, who are allowed to have competed for no more than two years.
"At the last race in D.C. and one race prior, there has been some suspicion that St. Paul's was not rowing novice rowers in N4," said Baltimore Rowing Club coach Skip Martinko.
St. Paul's coach Mike McEwan said his crew members may be athletic, but they aren't overqualified.
"All five of those rowers started in March. They are novices," McEwan said. "They are extremely talented and also, I don't want to use the word big ... but they're tall and muscular. ... They're just so strong its ridiculous."
In the same race, Institute of Notre Dame protested the actions of the crew from Roland Park, saying the latter's boat cut off IND. Roland Park finished third, IND fourth.
Officials will decide on the protests today.
Rowers handled unseasonably cold temperatures and 15-mph winds at the Baltimore Rowing Club's 1,500-meter course.
In the first heat of the women's novice four, Roland Park overtook IND halfway through the race for the victory in 6:14.70.
IND finished close behind at 6:15.40, a result that coach Alyson Corvino was pleased with.
"Our first novice four, never been in a four together until today, we're in third place [among all novices]," Corvino said. "We're in a rebuilding year, and they've really stepped up and it's really nice to see."
As waters continued to get rougher for the women's light four, two Roland Park teams took the lead out of the gate and finished one-two in 5:45.69 and 5:59.60.
In the last varsity race before competition was suspended, the Annapolis Rowing Club won the men's varsity eight, followed by three St. Paul's crews.
After yesterday's races, Roland Park led with 15 points, followed by St. Paul's School for Girls with six.
The remaining races are scheduled to be rowed in two weeks at St. Andrew's School in Delaware.
