Main Line crew teams make waves at City Championships

Philadelphia >> Episcopal Academy, Lower Merion, Conestoga, Agnes Irwin, Shipley and Radnor had some fine performances at this year’s Philadelphia Scholastic Rowing Association’s City Championships held May 4-5 on the Schuylkill River. Here’s how those schools (all six of them submitted their results to Main Line Media News) fared at the City Championships:
Agnes Irwin
Agnes Irwin rowed eight boats, seven of which qualified for the finals.
The Freshman Quad of Chloe Saulnier, Ashlyn Phelan, Gioanna Zhoa, and Julia van der Zwan mounted a serious charge in the last 300 meters to nearly catch the entry from Ridgewood, coming up a half-second short of victory, earning a silver medal.
The Lightweight Double of Madeline Briddell and senior Anisah Thomas advanced two places from their time trial finish in order to finish in second place behind rival Conestoga. The Lightweight Quad of Shreya Kalra, Enshalla Dunlop, Ayanna Dunlop, and senior Katie McGovern finished 10 seconds behind the quad from Shipley to take home the silver medal.
Agnes Irwin had two girls competing in the Varsity Single event, junior Peyton Bond and senior Sarah Yoh. Bond took the bronze medal finishing 10 seconds adrift of first place. Yoh finished sixth with a personal best time of 6:12, only 20 seconds behind her teammate.
Freshman, Caroline O’Mara also qualified for Sunday’s final in the Novice Gig/Single after leading after the time trials by a margin of over 30 seconds. The Girls JV Double of juniors Eliza Pendergast and Ella Haines finished their final in sixth place with a time of 5:53.
Conestoga
The women’s lightweight double of juniors Annie Dudrear and Maggie Gosnear remained undefeated with another gold medal, and the men’s varsity double of Shane Connell and Cole Fogerty took gold as did the Varsity Women’s 4x of Abigail Lewis, Blair Kennedy, Victoria Budike and Natalia Bertolotti.
Conestoga’s JV boys 4x finished second with a quartet of Zach Miles, Dennis Corr, Kosta Markovic and Kevin Connell. The Varsity Boys 4x placed second with a team of Brenton Molsbergen, Max Harmon, Andrew McClellan and kale Wiley. The JV girls 4x were second with a quartet of Lily Bielinski, Annie Stuber, Savanna Jacovini and Ella Ottensman.
Episcopal Academy
EA entered 10 boats, and earned three medals in the finals.
Will Konopka finished first in the Boys Gig/Novice 1X (5:52.40). The win qualifies Konopka to compete at the SRAA Nationals in Zanesville, Ohio May 24-25.
The Girls JV 4x (stroke – Lily Haupt, Mickey Rymal, Natalie Johnston and Mary Grace Konopka) placed third in the championship finals (5:12.73), and the Boys Varsity 4+, (stroke – Billy Stavropoulos, Peter Woodville, Ian Reape, Owen Maier and coxswain Juliana DiCarlo) finished second (4:36.08) and also qualified for SRAA Nationals.
Other EA City Championship results were as follows:
The Girls’ Freshman 4+ (stroke – Ashley Tan, Emmie O’Neill, Grace Bomberger, Ella Jordan, coxswain Julia Lindblad) placed fifth in the finals (6:11.04).
The Girls’ JV4+ (Julia Ruston, Ruth Engelman, Mary Cipperman, Lacey Rivera and coxswain Natalie Horbowy) raced in the first heat of the semi-finals and placed fourth (5:51.66).
The Boys JV4+ (stroke – Jack Rebillard, Arya Venugopalan, Chase Anderson, Jimmy Bruder and coxswain Hollis du Pont) raced in the semi-finals – placing second in the first heat (5:02.71) which advanced them to finals. In the championship finals, the boys placed fourth (4:53.13).
The Boys JV 4x (stroke – Max Levinson, Charlie Barton, Glay Yang, Aedan Yohannan) rowed to fifth place in the championship finals (5:03.07).
Lower Merion
A total of 21 Lower Merion rowers won medals, and LM qualified many of their boats for the Scholastic Rowing Association National Championships Regatta.
The Boys Varsity pair of Christian Mobo and Nate Stevens won a gold medal.
In the Girls Novice 1x, Roxy Wood won a silver medal. The Boys JV 8+ also won a silver medal, with a team of Aidan Barr Bono, Charlie Berman, Zeke Kelz, Bruno Kraidy, Maximus Forster, Isaac Berman, Paul DeSouza, Julius Murphy and Brad Wootton (coxswain).
The Girls Freshman 8+ earned a bronze medal, with a team of Ashtyn Webb, Emma Cloud, Page Cloud, Maya Kraidy, Jinx Allison, Emma Liu, Annie Cloud, Caroline Burchette and Sonia Laby (coxswain).

Radnor

Radnor’s crew clubs fielded 13 boats at City Championships with seven making the finals. Four boats qualified for the SRAA National Championships Regatta – the Boys Lightweight 8+, Boys Varsity 1x, Girls JV8+ and Girls Lightweight 8+.

The Girls Lightweight 8+, consisting of coxswain Jessica Weitzman, stroke Jenna Spray, Amanda Vitt, Lexi Fogel, Ali Bauer, Clare McDonald, Isabella DiGiacomo, Sophia Hernandez and Tova Tachau, took the bronze in their final with a time of 4:57.

The Girls JV 4+, including stroke Lindsay Eggert, Audrey Margolies, Meghan Subak, Kylie Slupe and coxswain Caroline Spaniel, finished third in their semifinal and advanced to the final, where they finished sixth.

The Girls JV 8+ A Boat, consisting of stroke Avery Van Dusen, Tara Osborne, Abigail Chapin, Jill Getty, Brighton Dewitt, Chloe Sakowski, Taylor Stearns, Maddie Johnson and coxswain Courtney Gallagher, finished sixth in their final.

The Girls Freshman 4+, consisting of stroke Tabitha Schoenborn, Maxie Mandel, Bella Elgar, Ainsley Marinakos and coxswain Chloe Pepper, advanced to the final in their first medal race.

For the Radnor boys, Zack Taylor won a close Boys Varsity 1x final after advancing from a field of 15.

Riding a tailwind, the Boys Lightweight 8+ of stroke Thomas Ciatto, Braeden Meandro, Nate Palmer, Michael Ching, Jacob Frishman, Andrew Davis, Phineas Bond, John Janson and coxswain Noah Pepper finished third in their final in 4:31 – the fastest Radnor crew down the 1,500 meter course.

The Boys Novice 4+ of stroke Ryan Fox, Samuel Chung, Trevor Antram, Will Graham and coxswain Joseph Odorisio) finished fifth in their final.

Shipley
The Girls Junior Double comprised of Dixie Lissack and Celeste Funari-Muse continued their unbeaten streak by bringing home a gold medal once again.
The Girls Varsity Lightweight Quad comprised of Malenne Kelly, Lila Saligman, Amelia Lawler and Emma Strawbridge also continued their unbeaten streak by also taking a gold medal.
The final race of the day was the Girls Varsity Quad with Lucia Helmers, Jordan Winter, Talia Chairman and Casey Winter. After a hard-fought race, they managed a bronze medal behind their ongoing rivals Conestoga and Haddon Township.