The old adage about weather in the month of March, “In like a lion, out like a lamb,” was realized in a single day last weekend along Kelly Drive. As the scholastic crew season got underway on the Schuylkill on Sunday, spectators who were bundled up in overcast windy conditions during the morning shed layers of clothing in the afternoon as the sun emerged and the temperature climbed into the 70s.

The first race of the annual Manny Flick/Horvat regatta series had been scheduled for the previous weekend, but poor river conditions and a low number of registrations caused the races to be canceled. Last Sunday, Penn Charter opted out, but Germantown Academy, Germantown Friends School, Mount St. Joseph Academy, and Springside Chestnut Hill Academy were all out on the water.

The boys raced in the morning and unfortunately, several area entrants had to drop out of their events early in the proceedings.

In the JV double, Jack Ho (stroke) and Jay Hangley placed second in their flight, although the other two flights produced the fastest times. A little later the Tigers’ JV quad (Zeke Hammarhead, Quin Yannella, Henry Noel and Ryan Chi) won the first flight in their event with the third-best time overall.

There was only one flight in the varsity double, and here GFS (Thomas Peng, Alden Dunleavy) was second, SCH (Ethan Quinn, Roman McNichols) placed third, and GA (JJ Johnson, Benjamin Moorhouse) came in fifth.

Early in the girls’ schedule in the afternoon, SCH had Cori Gutgesell finish second in the JV single, and in the JV double the Blue Devils (Linnea Klas, Alice Greenleaf) won the second flight while also turning in the best time overall. In the same flight as SCH, Germantown Friends (Mika Orenstein, Sophia McCrea) took third place.

Second in their flight and second-fastest overall was Springside’s JV quad, which featured Aria Chan-Van Der Helm, Siena McNichols, Kendall Little and Maya Artis. The third-best time here was recorded by the GFS quartet of Josie Hong-Goranin, Kate Mardeusz, Ivy Schaenen and June Furnas, who won the second flight.

SCH’s Charlotte Harris and Taylor-Rae Hall-Callaway would find themselves all alone on the race course; they were the only entry in the lightweight double.

Winning the first flight in the varsity double and posting the best time out of the two sections was the GFS vessel crewed by seniors Nola Schaenen and Isabella Ammon.

SCH’s varsity quad (Iris Dobeck, Charlotte Trayes, Ariya Goswami, Elizabeth O’Brien) placed second in their flight, with the third-fastest time out of the two flights.

Mount St. Joseph Academy is heading into the spring season with a new head coach for the first time in more than two decades. Mount grad Megan Kennedy (‘92), who became engaged in the sport while at Drexel University, founded the modern-day Mount crew program in 1999. With the help of varsity crews coach Mike McKenna (also recently retired), she built the Mount into a nationally prominent franchise with an overflowing trophy case.

Kennedy’s successor is Flourtown native Alanna McCloy, a graduate of the Mount (‘10) who went on to Villanova. While at the Mount she was a member of the powerful lightweight contingent, winning a bronze medal in the light eight at the U.S. Rowing Youth National Championships. She came back to join the Magic’s coaching staff 11 years ago.

Much of that time was spent coaching first-year rowers, so it’s no surprise that the girls in the novice eight and freshman eight were ready for action on Sunday.

The novice eight (Maddie Kelly-cox, Tess Ruppersberger-stroke, Marissa Vandiver, Kimora Jackson, Tess McKenna, Addison Crawford, Emma Assaf, Caddidy Keenan, Katherine Shanahan) won its race by six seconds over runner-up Philadelphia City Rowing.

The members of the freshman eight (Claire Delzingaro-cox, Maeve Benedict-stroke, Alexa Marques, Marlow Short, Grace Sheehan, Bridget Bell, Margaret Miller, Lily Buck, Riley McKenna) engaged in an all-Catholic Academies race with fellow league members Gwynedd Mercy and Merion Mercy. The young Mounties were in complete command, winning by almost 30 seconds over Gwynedd, while Merion was another half-minute back.

As they often do in the early Flick series races, the Magic entered three boats in the varsity eight category, their true varsity eight, the second varsity eight, and the JV eight.

The varsity boat (Alice Baker-cox, Ella Kurek-stroke, Kate Marsden, Shay Gura, Emily Penza, Ava Smith, Katie Duffy, Aubrey Sheehan, Elyse McGlynn) steamed down the middle of the course in lane three to win in five minutes, 10.33 seconds, while along the riverbank in lane one the second eight (Kayleigh Costello-cox, Molly Groark, Addison Marques, Ava Kristel, Megan Bell, Maddie Dudley, Christian Robinson, Addison Ross, Zoe Nguyen) became the runner-up in 5:18.36.

Merion Mercy’s varsity came in third in 5:25.85, while the Mount St. Joe Jayvees (Bridget Murray-cox, Natalie Peddicord-stroke, Ainsley Short, Amelia McElroy, Callie Zapalac, Maeve Ruibal, Ashlynn Loughlin, Addison McKenna, Katie Canalley) were fourth in 5:41.54, ahead of Episcopal Academy and Gwynedd Mercy.