Main Line rowers make waves at 5th Manny Flick Horvat regatta
Several Main Line high school crew teams make their mark at the 5th, and final, 2016 Manny Flick Horvat regatta Sunday. What follows are the highlights achieved by these squads, as sent to us by the Main Line teams:
Agnes Irwin
The Agnes Irwin School’s crew team raced seven boats in the 5th Manny Flick/Horvat Series.
Top-performing boats were the Girls’ Freshman/Novice 2x (Victoria Budike, Anna Cayley), which finished first by open water over Great Valley and Friends Select, and the Girls’ Lightweight 2x (Gabby D’Arcangelo, Rosie Sokoll), which finished first in their heat for the second consecutive week.
AIS raced two boats in the Girls’ Freshman 4x event. Carson Heward, Anisah Thomas, Sarah Yoh and Cameron Zuccarini finished second in Flight No. 1, while Emma Bonner, Jean-Marie Dundovich, Perry Maner and Sydney McCarthy raced to a second place finish in Flight No. 2.
It was a photo finish for the Girls’ JV 4x (Maya Brown-Hunt, Rose Lawrence, Lexi Short, Myka Thomas), just 0.22 seconds behind the first place boat from Baldwin.
The morning ended with strong performances by the older rowers: the Girls’ Varsity 1x (Anna Sophie Peters) was third behind Germantown Academy and Germantown Friends, and the Girls’ Varsity 2x (Alex Pinsk, Caroline Richardson) finished second to Ridgewood (N.J.)
“Today’s results are a strong indicator that this team is ready for next month’s big regattas,” said AIS assistant coach Josselyn Rimel Delussey, an AIS alumna (Class of 1997) with over 20 years of rowing experience and an extensive coaching background. “We’re especially proud of the girls who performed so well the morning after their prom!”
Baldwin School
The Baldwin School Crew rowed their newly christened racing shells to some of the strongest performances so far this season. The big win of the day went to the Girls Junior Varsity Quadruple Sculls, who edged out Agnes Irwin and Conestoga in the last 100 meters. The crew consisting of bow, Julia Love, 2, Hailey Barnett, 3, Caroline Kiser, and stroke Olivia Lanchoney, crossed the line with a time of 5:18.82, followed by Agnes Irwin 5:19.04, and Conestoga 5:20.88. After some commotion with alignment at the starting line, the crew started a boat length down on the field.
Baldwin sophomore Julia Love described their reaction to the chaotic start: “It really lit the fire in us.”
The crew responded by charging up to meet the field and fighting every stroke to finish on top.
The Girls Lightweight Quadruple Sculls of bow, Jasmine Greytok, 2, Sally Chen, 3, Rachel Sutor, and stroke Zara Wenzinger, finished second to Germantown Friends School. The crew crossed the line with a time of 5:31.93, a mere 4.55 seconds behind the first place boat. Previously undefeated, the girls will be looking to strengthen their race plan for the next competition. The Lightweight Double Sculls of bow, Jane Bradley and stroke, Maya Bindra, improved their time and finished 6th with a time of 6:39.83.
Freshmen Juliet Paiva made her singles debut in the Girls Gig/Novice Single category. She finished third with a time of 9:00.26. In the Freshman Quadruple Sculls event, bow, Da’Naira Dent, 2, Helen Ji, 3, Jessica Shen, and stroke Jane Bai, came in third place with a time of 6:19.92. The crew finished over a minute ahead of the fourth place crew from Westfield and was within a few boat lengths of the leading crews.
The Junior Varsity Double Sculls event was heavily contested this week. With a total of 14 entries, the racing format changed to a time trial, where crews are sent off the starting line one by one to race the clock down the course. The sophomore crew of bow, Caroline Buchner, and stroke, Gabrielle Alston, finished fourth place overall with a time of 6:07.70. The crew had only spent a few days together, yet turned out a strong performance and proved to be serious contenders as the championship season approaches. The ‘B’ boat entry of bow, Sanjana Dixit, and stroke, Caroline Sterman, had a solid race, holding off the field to finish in 11th place with a time of 6:36.38.
Baldwin head coach Liesel Hud was pleased with the overall team performance: “The Baldwin team trained through the regatta this week, trying out new combinations and line ups. The Junior Quad performed to our expectations, despite the confusing start. All of our athletes work hard both on and off the water. They are a special group of girls with a true competitive spirit! Today’s results set us up for good starting positions in the time trials at the Philadelphia City Championships.”
Baldwin assistant coach Natalie Wingerning also commented on the team’s success: “All crews rowed aggressively this weekend and were eager to apply the technical changes that they have been working on in practice. It is promising to see the competitive spirit and confidence emerge from the team leading up to the championship season. In the coming weeks, we will be fine-tuning to gain more speed.”
Conestoga
The highlight of the day was Conestoga’s rising freshman regatta, and was attended by many interested students from both Tredyffrin Easttown and Valley Forge Middle Schools. The Conestoga girls put on a great display for the rising freshman – medaling, again, in every event they entered.
Blair Kennedy (freshman at Conestoga) and Kate Concannon (sophomore at Conestoga) led things off with a first place finish and a commanding 29 second lead over Montclair. Abigail Lewis (freshman at Conestoga), Danica Merrill (sophomore at Conestoga), Elena Lindquist and Natalia Bertolotti (freshmen at Conestoga) raced their girls novice quad to a first place finish with a similar commanding 28 second lead over Strath Haven.
The girls JV quad of Katherine Stanton (sophomore at Conestoga), Anna Green (junior at Conestoga), Leigh Burgess and Holly Culbert (sophomores at Conestoga) took bronze in their event just two seconds after first place Baldwin and second place Agnes Irwin.
Conestoga seniors Carly Robins and Laura Phelan continued their winning streak in the girls Varsity double beating Penn Charter, Springside Chestnut Hill and Episcopal.
Conestoga’s girls finished their morning with the girls’ Varsity quad. Laura Alcorn (junior at Conestoga), Caroline Gosnear (senior at Conestoga), Emily Hompe (senior at Conestoga) and Kate Hudson (junior at Conestoga) continued their winning streak beating Episcopal, Haddon Township, Ridgewood and Springside Chestnut Hill Academy.
The TEMS and VFMS rising freshmen stayed to watch the Conestoga boys compete in the afternoon, which kicked off with Frank Wang (junior at Conestoga) coming in 11th in the time trials of a very strong boys JV single event.
Cole Fogarty (freshman at Conestoga) raced his boys Novice single to a first place finish over Haverford while Simon Bodek and Amir Zisling (freshmen at Conestoga) took fourth, behind Haverford, in an extremely close boys Freshmen double event.
Alejandro Dyer, Michael Medica (sophomores at Conestoga), Drew Tada and Kale Wiley (freshmen at Conestoga) raced their boys Novice quad to an open water 22 second win over Montclair. Sam Nalbone, Shane Connel, Robert Molsbergen and Harvey Sowerbutts (all freshmen at Conestoga) crossed the line in third place behind Haverford and Roman Catholic. Conestoga sophomores William Zhao and Liam Bobber fought hard for second in their boys JV double event, finishing just four seconds behind a strong Ridgewood competitor.
The boys’ lightweight quad of Liam Roth, Julius Neubig, Matt Balch and Leo Draper (all Conestoga juniors) raced hard but finished second behind visiting crew Saratoga and ahead of local rival Roman Catholic.
In the team’s second-to-last race of the day Conestoga sophomores Evan Cain and Zach Simpson raced their boys Varsity double to a third place finish behind Germantown Friends and Roman Catholic.
By far the most exciting race of the day for Conestoga was the final race of the day – the boys Varsity quad. Max Amsterdam (junior Conestoga), Jake Novak (senior Conestoga), Griffin Hamilton (junior Conestoga) and Jack Corr (sophomore Conestoga) had a photo finish with Roman Catholic. The official photo review revealed that Roman beat Conestoga by just 1/10 of a second. However the varsity quad still avenged the lightweight quad by beating visiting crew Saratoga by two seconds.
Episcopal Academy
Radnor
At the conclusion of the Manny Flick series of regattas, Radnor boys and girls crew teams finished as the top-ranked public school in points and medals.
