Gwynedd Mercy Academy’s crew team is seven years old. This season was its most successful.

For most of his life, Lou McCormick has been involved in the Philadelphia rowing community. He once rowed stroke at La Salle College High School and then at Temple, where he won four Dad Vail gold medals. After his time on the water, he volunteered on the Dad Vail committee.

The only aspect of rowing he never dabbled in was coaching. That was until 2018, when Gwynedd Mercy Academy High School president Denise Marbach learned of McCormick’s background in crew.

“My wife and I went to a beef and beer at Gwynedd — I think it was Denise’s first year [as president] — and she approached us asking why we brought our daughters there. I have two sisters who went there as well, and what do we feel like the school needs,” McCormick said. “I said, ‘Why don’t you have a crew team?’ And she said, ‘I can’t believe you just asked me that, I tried to bring a crew program here years ago. Would you help me?’ And I told her yes, but just don’t ask me to coach.”

The latter didn’t stick, and McCormick is glad it didn’t. He was the freshman coach during the program’s first year and then took over as head coach four years ago. He helped jump-start the program through his connections in the rowing community to find access to boats and a place to practice, which is at Hines Rowing Center in Conshohocken, a reasonable distance from the Montgomery County school.

And this year, he led Gwynedd Mercy Academy crew to its most successful season in its seven-year existence. The Monarchs’ second varsity four boat earned the program’s first varsity gold medal at the Stotesbury Cup regatta. The varsity four also won a silver medal, then made history at the Scholastic Rowing Association of America, placing first to become national champions.

Those two events also achieved a city championship, and recently, the varsity four and varsity pair competed in the Henley Women’s Regatta in the U.K.

“Hands down, this is our most accomplished year,” McCormick said. “Just all the hard work and dedication these girls have put in. As coaches, we ask a lot, and I have an amazing assistant coach, Margaret Smigiel, she really put a lot of emphasis on winter workouts and time on the rowing machines, doing body circuits, doing yoga. Our belief is that you don’t win a race on race day, you win the race with all the time and effort you put in during the winter workouts.”

Five graduates of the rowing team, who refer to themselves as the “final five,” will extend their careers at the college level.

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Nour Aboshady (varsity four, three seat) is heading to Notre Dame; Bella Guarnaccia (varsity pair) will compete at Loyola University Maryland; Tessa Naldzin (varsity four, two seat) is going to West Virginia, alongside her teammate Sophia Munoz, who rowed pair with Guarnaccia; and Claire Van Mater (varsity four, bow) will join Kansas in the fall.

“It was probably like 30-something of us that started off as freshmen, and through the years everyone kind of trickled out,” Naldzin said. “Rowing is the ultimate team sport. That’s what our coaches always say. You can really see that, because the final five stayed together for the four years that we were here.”

They spent plenty of time together, from their fall season to early-morning winter workouts to long spring days at regattas. It was a year-around commitment, and one of the most memorable moments of this past year was having the opportunity to compete near London.

The varsity four and pair made it through time trials but were eliminated after the semifinal round. It wasn’t the results they were hoping for, but competing on the famous River Thames and meeting new rowers — the regatta features more than 2,000 competitors — left a larger impact.

“It was just so satisfying to see our girls walking around in their school blazers, introducing themselves to girls from other countries and just striking up conversations,” McCormick said. “They struck up a conversation with a gold medalist, and it was a proud moment for me to see it, because we’ve always told them, crew isn’t just about rowing a boat down the river. It’s about life lessons.”

Now it’s time to pass the torch. Gwynedd Mercy Academy’s crew team is on the rise and the graduates hope the accomplishments they achieved in a season of firsts will carry over to the younger classes.

Rowing is a rigorous and demanding sport, Guarnaccia said, and you don’t usually see immediate progress, which is why it feels even better to cap her high school career on a high note.

“When you know your hard work pays off, it feels good,” she said. “It was such a blessing to be part of this crew team and have our names leave a mark.”