(Photo by Stephen Goldsmith) NATIONAL EXPOSURE: Hartman Byers, center, competes in a race earlier this season for the Mercer Junior Rowing Club (MJRC) men’s varsity eight. This weekend, Byers, a Princeton High junior, and his boat will compete at the USRowing Youth National Championships Lake Harsha near Cincinnati, Ohio. The MJRC is also sending a men’s varsity lightweight eight and a women’s varsity lightweight four to the nationals.

PHS’s Byers Relishing Shot at Big Stage; As MJRC 8 Competes at National Regatta

Bill Alden

As a freshman in 2008, Hartman Byers briefly had a shot at making one of the Mercer Junior Rowing Club (MJRC) boats headed to that year’s USRowing Youth National Championships.

“After my novice season, I did get to try out for one of the boats going to the nationals,” said Byers, now a junior at Princeton High. “I did seat race; I had very little idea about nationals at that point.”

As Byers has gone up the ranks in the MJRC program, he has gained a clear idea of the nationals.

This weekend, he will head to Lake Harsha near Cincinnati, Ohio to compete in the youth nationals regatta with the MJRC men’s varsity eight.

Byers will be joined on the boat by cox Liz Abraham, Nick Feibel, Greg Kuhlman, and Steven Woo of WW/P-S; Montgomery High School’s Mike Massone and Paul Popescu, together with fellow PHS students Adam Millar and Tom Piacentino.

MJRC is also sending a men’s varsity lightweight eight and a women’s varsity lightweight four to the nationals. The men’s lightweight eight includes WW/P-S’s Yujin Lee (coxswain); WW/P-N’s Paul Bellefleur; PHS’s Clay Censits, Daniel Kennedy-Moore and Ben Sproule; Montgomery’s Greg Monn; Princeton Day School’s Hunter Hecker and home-schooled Ted Snieckus while the women’s lightweight four features Hopewell Valley’s Meg Bailey, WW/P-N’s Abby Gross and Elise Hu, WW/P-S’ Emma McElligot, and cox Maddie Alden from PHS.

For Byers, a major breakthrough on his way to nationals came when he competed for the varsity eight in the spring of his sophomore year.

“In the spring I had two races on the varsity, at Saratoga and the regionals,” recalled Byers. “I was very nervous; I had never raced with those guys before. I think I did a good job; it was a huge confidence builder. I felt a whole different level of intensity going into my junior year.”

The varsity eight has been a force since the beginning of the school year. “We have a very good boat,” said Byers, noting that the crew placed ninth of 78 boats in its category last fall at the prestigious Head of Charles regatta in Boston. “We have won most of our races.”

In Byers’ view, a main ingredient in the boat’s success is the positive chemistry among the rowers.

“There is a bond I can’t explain; there is a brotherly feeling,” added Byers, who rows in the No. 4 seat on the boat.

“We have been working together for nine months. We have a really good group of guys on the boat. It is a good balance of people. Everybody really gets along and that makes practice fun.”

The boat didn’t have a lot of fun at the Mid-Atlantic regionals last month on Mercer Lake as it overcame a subpar performance to make the top-three placing required to advance to Cincinnati.

“We didn’t have a good day at the regionals,” acknowledged Byers. “We finished third of four. The way I look at it is that we just had to get through.”

In the weeks since that race, the boat has worked overtime to increase its speed.

“The level of intensity has picked up; things are coming together better than we hoped for,” maintained Byers.

“The boat is much more ready than we were for the regionals; we have gotten much faster. I can see our boat making the grand final and getting a medal.”

No matter what happens this weekend, Byers is going to savor the chance to compete in his first nationals regatta.

“Not a lot of people get that experience,” said Byers, who will serve as one of the MJRC boys’ team captains next season and plans to row in college. “I have heard a lot about it and the atmosphere and the intensity.”

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