the staff of the Ridgewood blog
West Windsor NJ, Ridgewood Crew set a new high-water mark for the 21-year-old program this past weekend at the 2025 Mid-Atlantic Youth Championships, as a record-high eight boats and 19 rowers earned automatic bids for the USRowing Youth National Championships, to be held in Sarasota, Florida next month. The Mid-Atlantic regatta is one of 12 regional meets nationwide, and only the top four finalists in select races on Sunday qualified for Youth Nationals.
Racing on a 2,000 meter course on central New Jersey’s Mercer Lake, the team demonstrated its racing depth against a competitive field that featured 529 boats from 64 clubs in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. All boats had to race in a time trial on Saturday and only the top six or seven fastest in each event moved on to Sunday. Out of Ridgewood’s 16 overall entries, 13 qualified for Sunday’s finals.
In individual events, Ridgewood took home two golds, four silvers, and five bronzes. As a team, it placed fourth overall in both sculling points and efficiency (most medals won per entry). Ridgewood was also the only team on Sunday to simultaneously qualify two boats for Youth Nationals in two different events.
“I cannot take credit for all the amazing performances this weekend. These athletes are the ones who went out and had their best races of the year so far. Each week of the season gets tougher at this point, so it’s encouraging to see so many of them peaking at the right time,” said Ridgewood Crew Head Coach Boris Roque-Alvarez. “Five years ago, we only had one rower — a women’s single sculler —going to Youth Nationals, so for us to qualify 19 rowers this year is unbelievable.”
This unprecedented performance is due in no small part to a crop of younger rowers who are wasting no time making their mark — 11 of those 19 rowers who qualified have never been to Youth Nationals before.
Among the leaders of this next generation are Jaya Suri and Zurie Yela, who comprised Ridgewood’s youngest boat on Sunday. In the Womens U17 Double Sculling event, the pair led the way in their Saturday time trial and then followed that up with a commanding victory to claim one of the team’s two first-place finishes (8:10.58).
Ridgewood’s youngest rowing duo this past Sunday, Jaya Suri and Zurie Yela, won gold in the Womens U17 Double sculling race at the 2025 Mid-Atlantic Youth Championships and also qualified for Youth Nationals in Florida. (Photo credit:Diva Yella)
Ridgewood’s other gold went to another underclassmen rower, Graham Richardson. After just missing first by less than half a second in the Mens U17 Single Sculling race at this regatta in 2024, Richardson would not be denied in the same event this year. He dominated the time trial and scorched the competition in Sunday’s final, winning by more than 13 seconds (7:39.61).
Other Ridgewood rising stars were on display in the Mens U17 Double Sculling race. In one of the most inspiring moments of the weekend, the team put two boats through to Youth Nationals. The all-sophomore, lightweight crew of Gabe Dozortsev and Kamran Sarmad, rowing against stronger and heavier rowers, nonetheless took home a bronze on Sunday (7:20.96). The all-freshman boat of David Pasternak and Kai Bissie also punched their ticket for Florida by finishing fourth (7:29.90).
Two more of the team’s boats qualified for Youth Nationals in the Mens Youth Double Sculling race. In perhaps the closest race on Sunday, where barely two seconds separated first from fifth place, Ridgewood claimed the silver and bronze. Juniors Matt Moomjy and Uhmjoo Han took second place (6:50.79), sneaking across the finish line a mere.13 seconds ahead of their teammates senior Will Carroll and junior Luciano Saladino (6:50.92).
In another photo finish, the Ridgewood boat of sophomore Tristan Riedel, juniors Will Nasr and Sam Scharfenberg, and senior Lucas Evers pushed their bow ball .09 seconds ahead of another boat in Sunday’s Mens Youth Quad Sculling final, claiming silver in the race and earning a bid to 2025 Youth Nationals (6:14.27). Riedel and Evers qualified and raced in Florida a year ago as well. Nasr and Scharfenberg will be making their third consecutive trip to Youth Nationals.
The varsity boat of sophomore Tristan Riedel, juniors Sam Scharfenberg and Will Nasr, and senior Lucas Evers took silver in the Mens Youth Quad Sculling race at the 2025 Mid-Atlantic Youth Championships. Riedel and Evers will be returning to Youth Nationals for the second time, while Nasr and Scharfenberg will be making their third straight appearance.
Those razor-thin margins kept on coming in the Mens Youth 2V Quad Sculling event, where the team’s all-11th grade boat of Paul Hallowell, James Ryan, Daniel Hept, and Michael Shkop lunged into third place. They secured their podium finish by beating the fourth-place boat by just .37 seconds (6:38.28).
Sunday’s finals also included races in several novice and second varsity categories that are not offered at Youth Nationals.
In the Womens Novice Quad Sculling race, freshman Nicole Manevich, sophomores Tinsley Loonam and Hope Martino, and junior Ilaria Cupi powered through the finish in second place (8:12.99).
Their male counterparts from Ridgewood took third and fourth place in the Mens Novice Quad Sculling final. Claiming the bronze was the boat of sophomore Brendan Finucane and freshmen Conner Cinco, George Rivkin, and Alex Evers (7:25.17). The boat crewed by sophomores Vicken Ezik and Edward Amores, and freshmen Matt Bessonov and Sam Rizzo crossed the line 10 seconds later (7:35.74).
And in one of the final events on Sunday, the Mens 2V Double Sculling race, Ridgewood once again put two boats onto the podium in nail-biting fashion. Junior Oliver Ilin-Schneider and freshman Isaac Reynolds, who have been rowing together for barely a week, held on to take silver (7:41.35). The pair just held off the all-sophomore duo of Atticus Smith and Andrew Segura, who put on a furious charge down the stretch to take the bronze (7:42.62).
Full times and results for Ridgewood Crew for the 2025 Mid-Atlantic Youth Championships (https://www.regattacentral.com/regatta/results2?job_id=9266).
In the program’s 20-year history, Ridgewood Crew rowers have competed and excelled in both national and international competitions and its athletes have attracted interest from top rowing colleges and universities around the country. Ridgewood Crew offers several ways for you to experience our mission: join the team, volunteer, or donate. Student athlete programs begin with Learn-To-Row for middle schoolers. For more information contact Ridgewood Crew at http://www.ridgewoodcrew.com.
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