The Ridgewood duo of senior Julia Smith and junior Maya Ashwin took the silver in the Girls Senior Double event at the 2025 Scholastic Rowing Association of America national high school championships. (Credit: Jae Han)
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Pennsauken NJ, Ridgewood Crew showed why it is among the country’s elite youth rowing programs this past weekend at the 2025 Scholastic Rowing Association of America national championships.
In a regatta that featured the best qualifying boats from high schools across the country, Ridgewood raced its way to one bronze and three silver medals, which ranked first for total podium finishes in sculling events out of the 148 schools competing. Its four overall medals were also second-most among all teams at SRAA, which featured 470 entries and more than 1,000 competitors.
In addition, Ridgewood’s four-medal haul marked the school’s best performance at the scholastic national championships in more than 10 years.
Held on a 1,500-meter race course at the Cooper River in Pennsauken, New Jersey, the two-day SRAA national championships begins with heat races on Friday, followed by finals on Saturday for those boats that place in the top six of their event. Ridgewood sent nine boats to SRAA this year — tied for second-most entries at the regatta — after claiming the state sculling title at the New Jersey high school championships in April. Five of the team’s nine boats raced their way into Saturday’s finals.
“There are no easy races at this regatta. Almost every boat at SRAA had to win a state or regional high school championship to get here, so just qualifying is a major accomplishment,” said Ridgewood Crew Head Coach Boris Roque-Alvarez. “For us to bring home four medals and have five fop-four finishes was very special. It shows this team ranks among the very best high school rowing programs in the nation.”
The top girls boat for Ridgewood this past weekend was crewed by senior Julia Smith and junior Maya Ashwin in the Girls Senior Double event. After placing second in one of three heats on Friday, their boat pulled off a tremendous race to claim second overall in Saturday’s final (5:56.60).
Their silver medal was notable because Saturday’s racing was marked by high winds that occasionally cut across the race course in gusts up to 25 miles per hour. This made steering in smaller boats particularly challenging. Also, Smith and Ashwin raced in one of the outermost lanes in the final, which tended to be even more buffeted by the crosswinds.
This duo continued Ridgewood’s strong tradition in Girls Doubles, as the team won gold in the Lightweight Girls Doubles at the 2024 SRAA national championships.
Returning to SRAA for their second year in a row, the four-person sculling boat of sophomore Tristan Riedel, juniors Sam Scharfenberg and Will Nasr, and senior Lucas Evers also took home a medal in Saturday’s final. In 2024, this crew came in second among all high schools in the nation in the Boys Junior Quad race. After aging up to varsity in 2025, Riedel, Scharfenberg, Nasr, and Evers again claimed a silver, this year in the Boys Senior Quad event (4:34.16).
Juniors Matt Moomjy and Uhmjoo Han enjoyed a bit of redemption at this year’s SRAA, after finishing fifth in the Boys Junior Double event in 2024. This year, the same pair, joined by junior Michael Shkop and freshman Graham Richardson, raced to a silver in the Boys Junior Quad event. This boat had enjoyed a month-long winning streak in scholastic races coming into the weekend, taking home gold at the New Jersey high school championships, City Championships in Philadelphia, and the prestigious Stotesbury Cup. On Saturday, they put up a furious fight down the stretch, but ultimately finished less than one second short of victory (4:43.65).
The closest race of the day involved the Ridgewood duo of senior Will Carroll and junior Luciano Saladino. This pair had easily won their Boys Senior Double heat on Friday, but faced off on Saturday against two other boats that had posted faster heat qualifying times. For much of the final, the top three boats were tightly clustered. But in the last third of the race, Ridgewood fell back slightly only to mount a heroic surge at the end in what became a photo finish for the silver and bronze. Ultimately, Ridgewood finished third, having crossed the line a mere .02 seconds behind the second-place boat (5:04.15).
Saturday’s other notable performance by Ridgewood came in the Boys Senior Lightweight Double final. There, the all-junior boat of James Ryan and Daniel Hept finished just off the podium, coming in fourth in a tight race that featured three teams vying for the last two medals (5:18.71).
Full times and results for Ridgewood Crew at the 2025 SRAA National Championships (https://results.regattatiming.com/backoffice/webpages/results/summary.jsp?raceId=624).
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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