“The boy’s crew first eight made it to Nationals.” These words have not been said since 2005.

After a surprising turn of events, the Varsity first eight managed to far surpass any achievements they have made in the past eight years. All of a sudden, everything just seemed to click for the boat. “What sparked this?” was the question on everyone’s minds throughout the season.

“There was a positive attitude this year,” senior Jake DuHadway said. “[It’s] probably because Barrett had such a positive influence on us.”

Head coach Jon Barrett stepped into the role of boy’s first eight coach in addition to his usual women’s first eight. He focused more on strength and technique rather than endurance and cardio, which their former coach Nate McClafferty focused on.

“Our stress level was so much lower having only three 2K’s this year compared to the 17 or so that Nate made us do,” senior Tyler Jaggers said.

Barrett originally started on the boys’ team before switching over to the girls side. This year, he completed both roles and despite the amazing shows the guys’ put on this year, he hopes to just coach the girls next year. Nothing is decided yet, though.

“They are my focus and always have been,” Barrett said. “I feel like I wasn’t able to give them as much attention because the two boats were always at such drastically different places in their training.”

The boys really wanted to make finals at states, Barrett said. However, despite their incredible turnaround from past years, the boys still were eliminated in their heat at Nationals last weekend.

“I think we could’ve done better but sometimes it just happens,” DuHadway said. “I’m still extremely proud for breaking records for the men’s crew team.”