With a thunderstorm looming on Saturday afternoon before finals, the officials of the Scholastic Rowing Association of America (SRAA) decided to take their, "lunches on the launches" and eliminate the break that had divided the day on the original schedule. It's the 84th iteration of this regatta, and this one took place in temps in the low 90's with the humidity high, and with lightning queued up for just after the end of the program, it was time to race.
To kick off the finals, two Saratoga Rowing Association girls who have been rowing together since third grade sculling camp pushed their bow out in front of the Lightweight 2x field and never let up.
"We stayed internal - we have confidence in our endurance," said Catherine Griskowitz, stroke. "We stayed at about a 33 for most of the race, at 500 we did a lengthen move, and on the sprint we went up about every 7 strokes" said Catherine Grabowski, bow. Both Catherines are going to Boston University's lightweight program to extend their rowing partnership to what, 14 years?
The JV Men's 4+ provided a surprise to the eastern crews who had felt they had a solid assessment of the opposition. Culver Academy, a small military school in Indiana, came to the regatta with "nothing to prove," but they still proved they could win the finals. The crew of cox Alex Coleman, Corbin Steck, Jacob Page, Charles Jones, and Nathan Cesarski said they "did what they knew how to do," which turned out well for them. The school had never won a race at Scholastic Nationals except a single more than 10 years ago, so they were certainly the dark horse. They row on Maxincukee Lake (AKA "the Max") and the team says the school is "a brotherhood" which carries into the spirit of the boat.
The Shipley team has been rowing scull and sweep under Coach Tom McAlaine for 17 years, and like several of the Philadelphia-area schools have student-athletes row both disciplines. In the LW Varsity 4x, the girls seemed well prepared as they won by four seconds over NY team Shenendehowa. The crew of Madeline Kelly, Lila Seligman, Amelia Lawler and Paige McCallum said they were "strong from the start," starting at about a 38. They settled and lengthened to a 33-34 and took control of the race. The athletes say they give "100% to every practice" and that the camaraderie really strengthens that commitment as a crew.
(Note that last names of all crew members were not available from race organizers and some quotes will come from first-names of athletes. )
The New Trier Freshman Girls Eight is evidence yet again of the strong crews the Trevians bring to Camden every year - and freshman crews never fail to disappoint when being interviewed as well. Says a very eloquent 5-seat Ellie, "the secret is following the person right in front of me and listening to the cox." OK then. Stroke Ava says they went out a 40 and did a double shift down to 36, then down to 33, fairly sophisticated for a young crew. The crew was ahead of the second-place crew TC Williams by a solid 6 seconds. When asked about their motivation, said an engine room athlete: "Our cox Bethany reminded us how hard we worked during the season."
Orchard Lake St Mary's was the other mid-western crew that surprised the field. In the Boys JV 8+, the crew from Michigan won over Florida's Pine Crest by 2 seconds. Coxie Thomas said they went out at a 43, and that "no one in the boat was going to lose this race." Says stroke Eddie, " I do what they (the crew) wants me to do. I let the horses (engine room) run, it all comes together." Says 4-seat Jacob, "we were strong; we believe in each other."
The Manhasset LW Men's 4+ won over a strong Belen Jesuit by .6 of a second. It was a burner, and coxswain Ashley Kim said that four of the crew are seniors, so this is their last Nationals. "We wanted to make a big statement and have no regrets," said said. "We've had four years of work… we sat up and sprinted at about a 38 with 600 meters to go." The crew of Greg Menke, Alex Hoffman, Brett Wiesberg and Mahmoud Khalifa kept their race plan under lock and key, but that sprint was very effective.
The Saratoga's LW men's quad was led by TJ Burke at stroke, with Karl Meidenbauer, Cole Levy, and Maximus Tetu behind him. TJ has been at Nationals in four different boats, and different seats, so this final act was a good statement for him. The line-up of this particular boat has changed several times after States so the results were a little uncertain. Bow seat Max Tetu said that after 800 meters the crew had some separation but still brought it up to a 40 for the sprint to make a statement.
Freshman, again, are the best for interviews. Said the Haddon Township Freshman 4x of Sara Ladik, Olivia Hollingsworth, Maya Jacobsen and Fiona Steele, the secret to their success is listening to the song "Break My Stride" by Matthew Wilder, which was a one-hit wonder in the early 80's https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28KobNbbI2s . Everyone has their motivation, but it worked for them to win by 8 seconds. They go high in this boat for young athletes; at a 44 for the start, and they said they practice their race plan regularly, the start, settle and sprint. They added that it doesn't hurt that they train on the Cooper River race course every day.
The Conestoga JV Women's 4x won their race by two seconds with a bit of swagger and something to prove. They had gotten second at Stotes to EL Crossley, a talented Canadian crew, and wanted to demonstrate that they are the best US crew for their boat class. The crew of Blair Kennedy, Annie Stuber, Lily Belinsky and Elena Lindquist won over perennially strong crew Saratoga. Says stroke Blair, "We take a high 20 at the start at about a 42-45, then lengthen to about a 35." Here comes the swagger from Elena: "They can know our playbook but they are not going to beat us."
Sculler Kayla Thomas, a senior going to Stanford to row open weight, won the Women's 1x by 5 seconds over the field. She attends Horace Mann in the Bronx, but trains with City Island. "When I looked at the heats and the semi's, I wasn't the fastest, but I tried to stay cool today in the shade, and just have fun." She says that mid-way through her races she can sometimes get lonely and tired, so she does what she calls "blitzes," a set of three power tens to propel her bow ahead. She says she is naturally very competitive. As for her college choice, "it may sound very clichéd but I got on campus and it just felt right; it was everything I wanted academically."
The Mount St Joseph's LW 8+ has a tradition of winning at both Stotesbury and SRAA Nationals, and 2018 was no different. The team, coached by Mike McKenna, won by 8 seconds over Nardin. The team - all speaking at once - said that it was a "pretty good race" (Nora, 4-seat) and that the "first 500 we were in the zone." Bow Karsen said "they did what they had to do," and that in this case, a 1500-meter race has to be powered up throughout to prepare to race 2000 meters at Youth Nationals in 2 weeks. Their collective goal is to "win Stotes and SRAA and then medal at Youth Nationals" said 7-seat Madison. Big goals for a crew with only three seniors, so next year, crews should continue to keep watch. The Mount LW legacy lives on.
The Conestoga Women's Varsity 4x won by a solid 7 seconds over Episcopal Academy. Said stroke Katie Concannon, "I was excited to have a good start; EA was right with us, but at 500 meters we did a solid push…at the sprint we went to a 36." Said bow Abigail, "we had to keep pushing ahead for a bigger margin - we have Youth Nationals and the race is longer. Sp harder races are coming up." Said the crew of what is fun about the boat, "we are really close friends and it is memorable to do well."
Belen Jesuit LW Men's Eight has won the category for the last four years. This year, they pressed past St. Joseph's Prep with a 4-second margin. The crew has endured some change with injured star athletes, and the hurricane in September damaged the boathouse and equipment. Many of the athletes were erging at home while their facilities were re-built. The crew of Julien Rodriguez, Hunter Prindle, Ivan Cabrera, Daniel Giacosa, Alex Brennan, Andres Garcia-Chacon, Carlos Huembes, Alex Pacios and coxie Kevin Bjorkman says that hard work and their coach Yunian Cabrera got them to where they are. They go on to Youth Nationals, and says Coach Cabrera, they will get to Sacramento early to adjust to the weather and prepare for racing. Says Coxie Kevin of their sprint: "we went over a 40; we killed it. We wanted to make a statement."
The Montclair Varsity Men's Eight won over New Trier by a little over 2 seconds. The crew, laden with seniors heading to college to row, won Stotes the week previous on the same course. Said stroke Henry, "we are always motivated by our competition." They shared as a crew that they are steadily improving and that Youth Nationals at 2,000 meters is ahead of them and the official end of the season race. 'We are a deep team; we are always able to compete against each other at practice." Of the seniors, they are going to Penn LW (coxie Julianna), George Washington, Cal Berkeley, Harvard, Princeton, Delaware and Temple. They will need a deep team to fill the seats of these hot shots moving on, but Montclair has one of the largest public-school teams and has been led by Jeremy MIchalitsantos, whose intensity works well with this crew. "Everyone is fun… it's great to win, great to travel," said the Montclair crew-who like many, spoke all together.
The Saratoga Women's Varsity Eight is loaded with Division I talent, and it shows in their record-setting time of 4:46.85. Says their coach Eric Catalano, "Last year we based at 38 and this year we wanted to go lower so it is sustainable when we go to longer races (Youth Nationals in 2 weeks, 2k)." He adds, "This is a mature crew. Our race plan settled early and put us back about 1/2 a boat length and that is hard to do – I'm not sure I would try that with a group less mature." Catalano explained that coxie Sydney Klotz "did an amazing job coxing them." Klotz is heading to Syracuse to continue her career, and the boat of Klotz, Bradley Martin, Zoe Hasbrook, Stella Haley, Olivia Dolan, Loralee Meidenbauer, Maddie Dodd, Olivia Vavasour, and Maddie Roscoe includes athletes going to Old Dominion, Louisville, Cornell, Duke, Brown, Virginia, and Syracuse.
The parent posse bugged out quickly with the impending storm, which didn't disappoint. On to Youth Nationals at Lake Natoma, CA June 8-10!
Comments | Log in to comment |
There are no Comments yet
|