“In the wider rowing world, Southern California is not well known or well respected until recently,” D’Antoni said. “If I said to my friends and associates in rowing in four years that Newport would’ve won the national championship back-to-back, I would’ve been laughed out of the room.”
Prior to the final, D’Antoni said the varsity eight boat struggled and had “a significant amount of cobwebs that needed to be shaken off” because of a four-week layoff since its regional qualifier.
“We spent that evening really talking about how to close the race — how to seal the deal,” D’Antoni said after the semifinal race at nationals. “Then they came out and I think they had probably one of the strongest races they’ve had all season in the final.”
In the final, the team finished first with a time of 5 minutes, 57.67 seconds, defeating Phillips Andover Academy (5:59.24) and Kent School (6:00.30).
The lightweight eight finished with a time of 6:10.99 defeating Marin Rowing Assn. (6:11.22) and Community Rowing, Inc. (6:15.47).
D’Antoni said he contemplated swimming out to the boat after his friends threw him in the water as a celebratory gesture, but didn’t want to get the boys disqualified.
“I was standing on the water considering swimming out to the boat and then thought, ‘There isn’t an excessive celebration penalty, but that might be a little excessive,’ ” he said. “I don’t necessarily want to enrage anyone or get disqualified for unsportsmanlike conduct.”
But even though the varsity eight oarsmen came together to finish first over the weekend, they nearly had to row without one of their teammates.
A.J. Brooks, a senior at Newport Harbor High, almost didn’t make it for nationals because he had mononucleosis during the last week of the four-week layoff.
