Old Lyme crew coach Louis Zubek remembers standing next to the towering figures, the 6-foot-4, 6-foot-5 rowers his team would have to face out on the water.

"They look older than I do," Zubek said.

Disadvantages, however, are nothing new for the Zubek's crew team. The team has always been a step behind its competition — except on the water.

The Old Lyme crew team, part of the New England Interscholastic Rowing Association,

has enjoyed a head-turning season, winning a plethora of high-level competitions against some of the most skilled and prestigious schools from Texas and Massachusetts to Cincinnati and even London.

The small, public school competes against local rowing teams throughout the season, during which schools are seeded for the New England Championships.

While larger private schools row in eight person boats, Old Lyme instead competes in the four person sweep boat events, where each of the four rowers in a boat control a single paddle. Of all the teams that qualified for the New England Championships in Worcester, Massachusetts, Zubek's team was the only public school that made the cut.

"We happened to come in second place," Zubek, speaking of the New England Championships, said. "Which we never medaled before, so coming in second place was pretty phenomenal."

That qualified Old Lyme for the USRowing Youth National Championships in Sarasota, Florida, where the boys' first boat won silver again.

All the accomplishments mask the adversity and inherent disadvantages a small school like Old Lyme faces on a daily basis, drawbacks and annoyances you would never know from its accolades.

To start, Old Lyme can't recruit kids. Instead the school is forced to rely on the athletes in its towns.

"We have to coach up kids that are interested in rowing as opposed to finding rowers like some of the other private schools," Zubek said.

Crew, despite being one of the more popular ones at the high school, deals with limited funding. While other private schools travel down to Florida for two weeks for preseason workouts in warmer weather, Old Lyme is relegated to the weight room, as the team waits for Rogers Lake to thaw out so it can practice again.

Other private schools can even utilize fifth-year graduate seniors on their roster, an option unavailable for Zubek.

It's David versus Goliath on the open lake water, and the Old Lyme rowers savor every moment.

"They love it, they find a lot of pride in it," Zubek said.

So when Zubek doubles up on daily practices — one before school and one after — his rowers don't complain.

When he's out coaching on the other side of the lake, he'll turn around and see each boat still going as hard as if he was standing right over them.

And when the Old Lyme rowers face the larger, funded and recruit-filled private schools, they still don't flinch.

"We've been, I guess kind of lucky with the talent level we have had over the last couple of years," Zubek said.