Main Line rowers make mark at 91st Stotesbury Cup Regatta
Philadelphia – Main Line rowers make their mark at the 91st Stotesbury Cup Regatta May 19-20 on the Schuylkill River. Hosted by the Schuylkill Navy of Philadelphia, the two-day event included 963 entries, close to 6,000 athletes and 191 clubs from across the United States and Canada.
Agnes Irwin
The Agnes Irwin School launched six boats at the Stotesbury Cup – 19 young women represented AIS in Friday’s time trials; three boats raced in semi-final heats, and two earned spots in Saturday afternoon’s finals.
The Freshman Quad (Peyton Bond, Madeline Briddell, Ella Haines, Eliza Pendergast) had an outstanding performance. After finishing second of 12 boats in Friday’s time trials, they placed fourth
in Saturday’s final behind third-place Niskayuna (Niskayuna, N.Y.), missing a trip to the medals dock by less than three seconds.
The Lightweight Four (Maya Brown-Hunt, Gabby D’Arcangelo, Juliana Jaskot, Caroline Richardson and coxswain Rosie Sokoll) had two impressive days of racing. They were fourth of 30 boats in time trials, first in Saturday morning’s semi-final heat, and sixth in finals later in the day.
The Junior Quad (Emma Bonner, Anna Cayley, Rose Lawrence, Lexi Short) finished sixth of 23 boats in Friday’s time trials. Unfortunately, they struggled with an equipment issue in their semi-final heat and finished fifth; only the top two teams in the semi-finals of their event progressed to finals.
Also turning in a solid performance for AIS was the Junior Double (Carson Heward, Sarah Yoh), which earned a spot in semi-finals by finishing 11th of 27 boats in time trials. They placed fifth in their semi-final heat, four seconds behind fourth-place Western Albermarle (Charlottesville, Va.)
Baldwin School
Baldwin sent three boats to Saturday’s finals with the lightweight and varsity doubles both making trips to the medals dock. This continues the team’s trend of improvements over last season, when just two Baldwin boats raced in the finals and only one returned to the boathouse with a medal.
This year’s lightweight double (stroke Olivia Lanchoney, bow Zara Wenzinger) which finished second in last year’s final, extended their season-long undefeated streak from time trial to semifinal to final, finishing with a 5:34 to take home the Laurence Keefer trophy.
The varsity double (stroke Caroline Kiser, bow Jasmine Greytok), seeded sixth after Friday’s time trials, advanced through semifinals and finally edged out visiting crew Albemarle by 0.4 seconds in the final to take home the bronze.
The junior varsity quad (stroke Hailey Barnett, three Jane Bai, two Tara McMahon, bow Julia Love) fought through time trials and semifinals to be seeded third heading into the final. After a solid start and strong first 1,000 meters, Baldwin held onto a solid third place position until they caught a crab in the last 200 meters of their race. Despite slowing almost to a stop, the quad recovered quickly and were still able to finish in fifth place. The quad gets another shot at victory at the SRAA nationals, where they will be joined by the lightweight and varsity doubles.
Baldwin’s junior varsity double (stroke Gabby Alston, bow Juliet Paiva) appeared to have earned a lane in Saturday’s semifinals after placing 12th in their time trial. However, official post-race results updates bumped them back to 13th, cutting their weekend short despite finishing ahead of 14 other crews entered in their event.
The crew’s varsity quad (stroke Jada Williams, three Avalon Rosenberger, two Samantha Baron, bow Sanjana Dixit) finished 14th in time trials, missing a semifinal position (taken by boathouse neighbors Penn Charter) by two finish places.
In the varsity four, racing against 59 other teams, Baldwin’s four (stroke Jessica Shen, three Da’naira Dent, two Evie Wasson, bow Maya Bindra, coxswain Carolina Sterman) finished 40th with a time of 6:45.57.
Conestoga
Conestoga entered 12 boats in Friday’s time trials, and 10 of them advanced to the semi-finals. After a day and a half of competitive fast racing, three ladies’ boats and three men’s moved on to the Saturday afternoon finals.
In the first final for Conestoga, the Girls Freshman Quad (Lily Bielinski, Annie Dudrear, Maggie Gosnear and Isobel Fellows), who placed first in their time trial of 12 crews, finished 1.67 seconds behind Saratoga to capture a silver medal.
The Boys Junior Quad (Brenton Molsbergen, Cole Fogarty, Michael Medica and Evan Cain), who placed third of 27 in their time trial and second in their semi-final, finished in third behind Shenendehowa and Haverford bringing home a bronze medal with a time of 4:44.29.
In the Girls Junior Quad, Abigail Lewis, Blair Kennedy, Elena Lindquist and Katherine Stanton finished second of 24 in their time trial, first in their semi-final heat and 5.48 seconds behind to E.L. Crossley of Ontario, Canada to win a silver medal in their final.
Facing some of the most competitive racing of the weekend, the Boys Senior Double (Matt Balch and Shane Connell) finished sixth of 27 in their time trial on Friday. During their Saturday morning semi-final – where only 1.31 seconds separated the top three competitors – Conestoga came in third, earning a berth in to the afternoon finals where they took fifth place.
In the Girls Senior Quad, competing for the The Bride’s Plate, the ‘Stoga girls were looking to uphold a five-year tradition of excellence at the Stotesbury Cup. Victoria Budike, Laura Alcorn, Kate Hudson and Kate Concannon took first place out of 19 in their Friday time trial and first place in their Saturday morning semi-final. With a time of 5:09.50, the girls captured their sixth gold medal in six years beating Western Albermarle by 5.18 seconds.
In the Boys Senior Quad, seniors Griffin Hamilton and Max Amsterdam and juniors Connor Sullivan and Zach Simpson competed in the final event of the day for Conestoga. The boys finished in third of 17 in their time trial and third in their semi-final where 2.5 seconds separated the top three places. In another very competitive race, Conestoga captured fourth place with a time of 4:44.35; 3.43 seconds behind Haddon Township and 0.15 seconds ahead of Roman Catholic.
Of the 93 clubs that won medals on Saturday, Conestoga Crew Club finished in fifth place among all sweeping and sculling crews in the Team Points standings and in first place of the sculling-only teams with 65.5 points.
Episcopal Academy
The Episcopal Academy entered 10 boats in the Stotesbury Regatta – one freshman boat, five Junior boats and four Senior boats, with four boats advancing to semi-final competition Saturday.
The first boat to race for Episcopal on Saturday was the Girls Junior Quad which was made up of the following athletes – stroke Alex Peyton, Morgan Gantt, Cat Spellman and bow Brooke Kraftson. This boat placed third in their heat at semi-finals, with a time of 5:22.17, and advanced to finals on Saturday afternoon.
Next up for Episcopal was the Girls Senior Double, comprised of stroke Heidi Zirnkilton and bow Elizabeth King. This boat placed first in their heat, with a time of 5:44.6, and easily advanced to finals on Saturday afternoon.
Next up for Episcopal was the Girls Senior Quad, made up of stroke Shannon Conlin, Brooke Baxter, Rachel Barber and bow Josie Konopka. This boat placed fourth with time of 5:26.80 and did not advance to finals on Saturday afternoon.
The final semi-final race for the Churchmen was the Boys Senior 8 +, made up of stroke Will Purtill, Nick Horbowy, Kyle Hogan, Peter LeRoux, Thomas Woodville, Harry Pusey, Colson Andrews, Tim Baker and cox Schuyler Kresge. This boat placed second with a time of 4:17.01 and advancement to finals Saturday afternoon.
At noon at the finish line, Episcopal head coach Molly Konopka was given the Joseph F. Brennan Memorial Coach’s Award. This award is a lifetime achievement award in honor of Joseph F. Brennan, who was a longtime oarsman and coach. The award was created to honor those coaches in the Philadelphia Scholastic Rowing Association, and the Schuylkill River rowing community, who have dedicated themselves to years of service to the sport. Each year the winner is chosen by a group of former coaches and officials in the Schuylkill Navy Community, who together have over 50 years of rowing/coaching/officiating service experience. Konopka is the eighth recipient of this award since its inception, and the second woman to be honored. Her name will be inscribed on the perpetual trophy which will be offered to reside at The Episcopal Academy for the following year.
After the award ceremony, the finals began, and the first boat to race for Episcopal was the Girls Junior Quad, comprised of stroke Alex Peyton, Morgan Gantt, Cat Spellman and bow Brooke Kraftson. This boat placed fourth in finals, with a time of 5:22.15.
Next to race was the Girls Senior Double, made up of stroke Heidi Zirnkilton and bow Elizabeth King. This boat placed second in finals, and received a silver medal, with a time of 5:45.55.
The final race for Episcopal was the Boys Senior 8 +, comprised of stroke Will Purtill, Nick Horbowy, Kyle Hogan, Peter LeRoux, Thomas Woodville, Harry Pusey, Colson Andrews, Tim Baker and cox Schuyler Kresge. This boat, the only boat from Philadelphia to race in the finals for this event, placed fifth with a time of 4:23.15.
Harriton
Harriton’s Girls Senior 4 boat finished in second place, one second behind Merion Mercy Academy. Harriton’s Girls Senior 4 boat was composed of seniors Anna Daley-Gibson and Fiona Maruca, juniors Ameila Rieser and Ellison Greenhalgh, and senior coxswain Julia Manning. Harriton’s Girls Senior 4 boat will row at the upcoming Nationals.
Lower Merion
This was a record year for Lower Merion at the Stotesbury Regatta, fielding 12 boats in Friday’s time trials, sending five boats on to the semi-finals and a boat to the medals dock for the first time in eight years after an open water win in the finals.
Boys Junior 8 (coxswain David Sher, stroke Noel Stach, Carlo Favaro, Aurimas Balciunas, Justin Wootton, Juan Park, Luke Birch, Alexander Kerekes and bow Elijah Miller-Wilson) raced to 16th place out of 52 boats in the time trials securing a semi-final spot, the first time in 30 years a Boys 8 from Lower Merion has gone on to the semi-finals at Stotes. They posted the sixth fastest time overall in the semi-finals of 4:48.50 but in a very fast heat it was not enough to advance to the finals.
Malvern Prep
Malvern had six entries in the competition, with 15 athletes participating. After an initial day of qualifying races the team placed five boat for finals races on Saturday.
The Boys Junior Double competition started with 28 entries and the Malvern duo of Ben Mankowski and AJ Wirtel claimed the bronze medal, trailing second place Blessed Trinity of Canada by 4.4 seconds.
The Boys Freshman Quad competition began with 19 entries and the Malvern Crew of CK Mao, Aidan Gallagher, Jason Kennedy and Edmund Park Freshman scored silver, trailing first place Haddon Township by 3.4 seconds.
Out of an initial entry field of 23 boats in the Lightweight Double event, the duo of Pat Keenan and Sean Ward won bronze, finishing .8 seconds behind second place Albemarle.
In the Senior Double event, 26 boats started the competition and the duo of Christian Franck and Andre Quintilianti struck silver, a mere .26 seconds behind first place Shenendehowa.
The Boys Senior Quad competition began with 17 entries and the Malvern crew of Johnny McGlinn, Drew Brady, Casey Lauder and Walter Koch proved they were up for the task, claiming the Gold medal, besting second place North Allegheny by six seconds.
Merion Mercy Academy
Merion Mercy took home a pair of gold medals in the 91st Stotesbury Cup Regatta. MMA has only won two other golds at Stotes; both on the same day in 2012–a Freshman 8+ gold and a Varsity 4+ gold. In 2017, they won gold in the V4+ category again, and took home gold in the Lightweight 8+ category for the first time.
Radnor
Radnor Boys entered four boats in the two day regatta. The Freshman 8, consisting of John Janson, Jacob Frishman, Garrett Stearns, Jack Ressler, Yuh Kurose, Tommy Tropeano, Michael Ching, Gabe Escobar and coxswain Wells Larsen finished 31st of 42 boats in their time trial. The remaining boats -Senior Four, Lightweight 8 and Junior 4 – all qualified for semi-final racing on Saturday.
The Senior 4, comprised of Noah Morris, Milo Wilson, Bobby Subak, Matt Palmer and coxswain Zahi Shalev finished fourth in their semi-final and did not advance. The Lightweight 4, consisting of Willem McGee, Ryan Conklyn, Braeden Meandro, Tommy Ciatto and coxswain Noah Pepper advanced to the final and of 35 boats, finished sixth overall.
The Junior 4, comprised of Brett Lyons, Greg McNicholas, Zach Taylor, Chetin Atillasoy and coxswain Evie Bond also advanced to their final and finished fifth out of 59 boats overall.
Radnor Girls Crew Club fielded five boats; two advanced to semi-finals and one progressed to finals.
Competing in prelims on Friday, and finishing 21st out of 40 boats included the Freshman 8+ (Lindsay Eggert, Tara Osborne, Taylor Stearns, Jill Getty, Abby Chapin, Megan Frei, Desyne Clarke, Estelle Atkinson and coxswain Courtney Gallagher).
The JV4+ also rowed on Friday, finishing 30th out of 71 boats (Katie Gerber, Mackenzie Jones, Camille Mulder, Joanna Vines and coxswain Elena Owens).
The Lightweight 8+ rowed to an eighth place finish out of 11: Jenna Spray, Tessa Kilby, Olivia Zenouzi, Amanda Vitt, Elly Conklyn, Jaimee Getty, Lexi Fogel, Julia Wi and coxswain Melissa Hunn.
The JV8+ finished fourth out of 50 boats on Friday, advancing to the semi-final on Saturday, where they rowed to a third-place finish earning them a spot in the final. Rebecca Modell, Ainsley Macrone, Katherine Bragdon, Liz Dustin, Sammy Cohen, Maddie Rubenstein, Ellisen Ching, Abby Frishman and coxswain Courtney Zajac took fourth place in the final.
The Varsity 4+ boat (Katie Dolan, Anna Duffy, Kate McCulloch, Olivia Robinson and coxswain Julia Lunger), rowed to a 13thplace finish out of 60 boats in prelims, advancing them to the semi final where they finished 10th out of 18.
