Main Line crew teams make waves at PSRA City Championships
A number of Main Line crew teams made their mark at the PSRA City Championships Sunday. What follows is a summary of results, by the Main Line teams which submitted reports to us:
Agnes Irwin
The Agnes Irwin School’s (AIS) crew team raced seven boats in City Championships, and after a rainy morning of time trials on the Schuylkill River, all advanced to afternoon finals.
Two AIS boats earned silver medals. The Girls’ JV 4x (Maya Brown-Hunt, Rose Lawrence, Lexi Short, Myka Thomas) raced to a second place finish, just 2.74 seconds behind Conestoga and 4.39 seconds faster than third-place Baldwin.
The Girls’ Freshman 4x A (Emma Bonner, Perry Maner, Sydney McCarthy, Sarah Yoh) finished in second place, 4.29 seconds behind Ridgewood (N.J.) and 2.55 seconds ahead of third-place Germantown Friends. AIS had two entries in the Girls’ Freshman 4x event. The B boat, with Jean-Marie Dundovich, Carson Heward, Anisah Thomas and Cameron Zuccarini, finished fifth, 15 seconds ahead of sixth-place Baldwin.
After a third-place finish in morning time trials, the Girls’ Freshman/Novice 2x (Victoria Budike, Anna Cayley) finished fourth in the finals, just 1.91 seconds behind Notre Dame. The Girls’ Lightweight 2x (Gabby D’Arcangelo, Rosie Sokoll) had an exciting race, as they just missed the medal dock by .05 seconds, finishing fourth behind Germantown Academy.
The Girls’ Varsity 1x (Anna Sophie Peters) was third of nine boats in the morning time trials and fifth in the afternoon finals, while the Girls’ Varsity 2x (Alex Pinsk, Caroline Richardson) was fifth of 13 boats in time trials and sixth in finals.
“It was a thrill to have all of our boats in the finals,” said Agnes Irwin head coach Molly Lawrence. “Every rower showed toughness and grit in difficult conditions.”
Baldwin School
Three Baldwin crews reached the podium in the team’s best performance of the season.
The Varsity Lightweight Quadruple Sculls crew of bow, Jasmine Greytok, 2, Rachel Sutor, 3, Olivia Lanchoney, stroke, Zara Wenzinger, won the title of City Champions. The crew dominated from the start, leading by open water over the pack and cruising past the finish line with a time of 5:26.6. They received the Bruce Lalonde Trophy and City Championship Plaque to commemorate their achievement.
Co-captain Jasmine Greytok said, “I could not have asked for a better race, outcome, or group of girls to row with.:
Co-captain Rachel Sutor said, “We have come so far this season. I’m happy my Baldwin rowing career is ending on such a high note.”
Sutor will be graduating this spring and will continue her rowing career she signed a letter of commitment at Hamilton College..
The Junior Varsity Double Sculls crew of bow, Caroline Buchner, stroke, Sally Chen, was the first crew of the day to take a trip to the awards dock, earning bronze medals. The combination had been training in larger boats before they made the transition to the double earlier this week. They crossed the line with a time of 6:12.45 ahead of two Germantown Friends School boats and Shipley School. The crew had placed fifth in the time trial, leading up to the final with a time of 6:29.76.
The Junior Varsity Quadruple Sculls of bow, Julia Love, 2, Hailey Barnett, 3, Gabrielle Alston, stroke, Caroline Kiser also earned bronze medals. During the time trials earlier in the day, the crew won with a time of 5:35.04, one second ahead of Conestoga and five seconds ahead of Agnes Irwin. During the finals, just after the 500-meter mark, Baldwin caught two small crabs and took five strokes to recover. They rallied in the sprint, but were unable to recapture the lead. In a fight for the gold, the crew finished with a time of 5:35.68 behind Conestoga and Agnes Irwin School. Baldwin edged out Ridgewood Crew for the bronze.
The Freshman Quad of bow, Da’Naira Dent, 2, Juliet Paiva, 3, Jessica Shen, stroke, Jane Bai, finished sixth in the final with a time of 6:15.01. The Junior Varsity Quadruple Sculls ‘B’ entry of bow, Helen Ji, 2, Caroline Sterman, 3, Tara McMahon, stroke, Sanjana Dixit, finished 11th in the time trial, crossing the line at 6:38.54. The Lightweight Doubles Sculls of bow, Jane Bradley, stroke, Maya Bindra also finished 11th in their time trial with a time of 6:51.52.
Baldwin head coach Liesel Hud told her crew, “We are so proud of your accomplishments today. More than half of our team raced in the finals and came home with some pretty nice hardware. Rowers and parents, we appreciate your support and cheers! You helped us cross that finish line.”
Conestoga
All 13 Conestoga entries qualified for the finals in the afternoon. Between the morning racing and afternoon finals the Conestoga Girls team was awarded the Kate Godwin sculling points trophy, for once again being the association’s most successful sculling program.
The afternoon brought an end to the rain, and a gold medal in Conestoga’s first final. Blair Kennedy (freshman) and Kate Concannon (sophomore) beat Sacred Heart by over 11 seconds, and Notre Dame by 24 seconds in the girls Freshman / Novice 2X final.
Conestoga freshmen Amir Zisling and Simon Bodek then had a win over Haverford and Bonner, but finished fourth behind Springside Chestnut Hill. The girls novice 4X of Abigail Lewis (freshman), Danica Merrill (sophomore), Elena Lindquist and Natalia Bertolotti (both Conestoga freshmen) took gold in their final with a 23 second victory over Strath Haven.
The afternoon’s first medal for the Conestoga boys went to Cole Fogarty (freshman), Micheal Medica (sophomore), Drew Tada, and Kale Wiley (both freshmen) in the boy’s novice quad. They finished 1/100 second behind Germantown Friends, and 12 seconds in front of Roman Catholic.
The boys freshman 4X followed with a repeat performance. Conestoga freshmen Sam Nalbone, Shane Connell, Robert Molsbergen and Harvy Sowerbuts finished behind Haverford and ahead of Ridgewood and Montclair.
Conestoga junior Frank Wang had a strong race in the boys JV 1X but was kept out of the medals by Hatboro Horsham and Bergen Catholic. Conestoga sophomores William Zhao and Liam Bobber got the boys back on the medal stand by finishing third, behind Ridgewood and Roman Catholic, in the boys JV 2X race.
Conestoga took another gold in the girls JV 4X. Katherine Stanton (sophomore), Anna Green (junior), Leigh Burgess and Holly Culbert (both sophomores) took first in the strong field of Agnes Irwin, Baldwin, Ridgewood, Springside Chestnut Hill and Penn Charter.
The boys found themselves back on the medal stand when the lightweight 4x of Conestoga Juniors Liam Roth, Julius Neubig, Matt Balch and Leo Draper finished behind Malvern and ahead of Roman Catholic.
Conestoga seniors Carly Robins and Laura Phelan rowed their bright yellow varsity 2X (named after Conestoga vice principal Dr. Patrick Boyle) to another city championship win, this time over Penn Charter and Ridgewood.
Conestoga sophomores Evan Cain and Zach Simpson took bronze in their boy’s varsity 2x race, finishing behind Malvern and Germantown Friends.
In the second to last race of the day Laura Alcorn (junior), Caroline Gosnear, Emily Hompe (both seniors at Conestoga), and Kate Hudson (junior) took gold in the girl’s varsity 4X race.
The day ended with the boy’s varsity 4X. Max Amsterdam (junior), Jake Novak (senior), Griffin Hamilton (junior) and Jack Corr (senior) finished third behind Malvern and ahead of Haverford.
Episcopal Academy
Lower Merion
Lower Merion High School’s Crew had four boats qualify for finals at the City Championship Regatta. Four qualifying boats included: the Girls JV4+, the Girls Lightweight 4+, the Boys JV 4+ and the Boys Varsity Pair.
Of those boats, the Girls JV4+ captured first place with a team of Kathryn Lockwood, Eva Nates, Mackenzie Beckman, Emma Spaeth and Jillian Rothstein. The Boys Varsity Pair earned second place with a team of Graham Mills and Adam Granieri.
All four boats have qualified to participate in National Championship events.
Radnor
Radnor’s 12 boats gave strong performances, with eight reaching finals and five of those medaled. Medalling boats have qualified for SRAA National Championships in Zanesville, Ohio May 27-28.
The Girls Freshman 4+ (Sammy Cohen, Jill Getty, Lexi Fogel, Amanda Magen and coxswain Jess Weitzman) were third in prelims and won a bronze medal in the finals with a 6:10.80, nearly seven seconds faster than their prelim time.
The Girls Freshman 8+ (Katherine Bradgon, Abigail Frishman, Olivia Zenouzi, Maddie Rubinstein, Caitlin Dressel, Amanda Vitt, Jenna Spray, Sally Dolan and coxswain Melissa Hunn) were third in prelims and won a bronze medal in finals, dropping 13 seconds from their prelim time with a 5:26.09.
The second Varsity 8+ (Katie Dolan, Liz Dustin, Josie Larkin, Kate McCullogh, Rebecca Modell, Zoe Landry, Katie Gerber, Gillian Sullivan and coxswain Julia Lunger) were fourth in prelims and jumped to a second place finish, winning a silver medal with a time of 5:18.00 – shaving 22 seconds off of their prelim time.
The Girls Varsity 8+ (Olivia Chase, Olivia Robinson, Anna Duffy, Nicole Vitt, Caroline Ressler, Yunyun Gu, Jillian Hughes, Samantha Talucci and coxswain Cassidy Lorenz) was sixth in prelims and sixth in finals, with a time of 5:15.51.
The Girls Lightweight 4+ (Elly Conklyn, Tessa Kilby, Ellisen Ching, Julia Wi and coxswain Courtney Zajac), finished seventh in prelims with a time of 6:22.34.
The Boys Novice 8+ (Braeden Meandro, Patrick Kaper, Zach Taylor, Alex DeNolfo, Tommy Ciatto, Alistair Douglas, Andrew Davis, Stuart O’Riordan and coxswain Noah Pepper) finished seventh in prelims with a time of 5:27.69, one place short of moving onto finals.
The Boys JV 4+ (Jack Boudreau, Stefan Neagoe, Jake Craig, Ryan Conklyn and coxswain John Talucci) finished 27th in the prelims with a time of 6:10.26.
The Boys Lightweight 4+ consisting of Zahi Shalev, Matt Kellett, Chetin Attilasoy, JW O’Riordan and coxswain Bella Hain, finished seventh in prelims with a time of 5:30.62.
The Boys Lightweight 8+ (Noah Morris, Aidan Donnelly, Stephen Ching, Drew Addis, Bobby Subak, Ryan Borowski, Willem McGee, Pranav Gaddameedi and coxswain Zach Pepper) was second in prelims with a time of 4:42.02 and won a silver medal in finals with a time of 4:31.88, dropping over 10 seconds from their prelim time.
The Boys Varsity 4+ (Liam Williams, Matt Palmer, Milo Wilton, Mike Fitzpatrick and coxswain Josh Anderson) finished sixth in prelims and sixth in finals with a time of 5:09.50.
The Boys Varsity 2 fielded two Radnor boats. The 2V A boat with Sam Bupp and Will Vaughn won a bronze medal with a time of 5:51.92. The 2V B boat (Brett Lyons and Greg McNicholas) finished fourth with a time of 6:07.