Ridgewood juniors Daniel Hept and James Ryan took gold in their flight of the Mens Lightweight Varsity 2x race at the Mercer Lake Sprints regatta in West Windsor, New Jersey. (Photo Credit: Jae Han)
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and West Windsor NJ, Ridgewood Crew competed across two states this past weekend, with strong performances Sunday team at the 5th Manny Flick on Philadelphia’s Schuylkill River and two days of benchmark races against some the East Coast’s elite clubs at the Mercer Lake Sprints regatta in central New Jersey.
“These two days stretched both our rowers and our team in so many ways,” said Ridgewood Crew Head Coach Boris Roque-Alvarez. “Very few teams would attempt to race in separate regattas simultaneously, because it’s difficult both logistically and for training, since the two courses are different lengths.”
“The Mercer Lake regatta is an important test for us because it is a highly competitive, 2,000-meter sprint course against many teams that will eventually compete for national championships,” Roque-Alvarez added. “That kind of competition isn’t the best for everyone and we wanted to keep getting all our rowers on the water in race situations, so Coach Kass also led a group to Philly and they did fantastic.”
“Our squad at the Manny Flick looked strong across the board in these 1,500-meter sprints, including our novice rowers,” Assistant Coach Kassandra Luna said. “Out of our seven boats, we had one rower take first and three overall finishes in the top three. That’s impressive.”
The standout performance of the day in Philadelphia was junior Andrii Onizhuk’s win in the Boys JV 1x (5:35.350) timed final. Unlike his photo-finish victory the week before at the 4th Manny Flick, this time he easily cruised to first against a field of 14 other rowers, outpacing the runner-up’s time by nearly nine seconds.
The Ridgewood girls novice rowers also made their mark in Philly. The freshmen duo of Marelia Leou and Nicole Manevich took third in their flight of the Girls Freshman/Novice 2x race (6:50.190), while Junior Ilaria Cupi, sophomores Tinsley Loonam and Hope Martino, and freshman Zurie Yela likewise rowed to third in their flight of the Girls Novice 4x race (5:54.960).
Senior Gryphon Smith was Ridgewood’s final top-three finisher in Philadelphia, sliding past the finish line for third in his flight of the Boys Varsity 1x race (5:50.050).
At the Mercer Lake Sprints regatta, Ridgewood kicked off its Saturday racing with both the Mens 2nd Varsity 4x and Varsity 4x boats qualifying for the A final races on Sunday. In addition, Ridgewood’s all-freshman boat of Graham Richardson, David Pasternak, Isaac Reynolds, and Kai Bissie brought home a bronze medal by finishing third in their flight of the Mens U17 4x race (7:37.321).
Switching to a single scull on Sunday, Richardson qualified for B final of the Mens Varsity 1x event, which had the largest field of any race at the regatta, with 38 entries. He scored another third-place finish in his final race on Sunday afternoon (7:56.506).
The duo of 11th-graders Daniel Hept and James Ryan scored Ridgewood’s lone win on Sunday, taking home the gold in their flight of the Mens Lightweight Varsity 2x race (7:05.157).
In the Womens Varsity 2x event at Mercer Lake, senior Julia Smith and junior Maya Ashwin charged through the finish line in the B final, claiming fifth (8:26.087).
Juniors Uhmjoo Han and Matt Moomjy raced their way into the Mens 2nd Varsity 2x A final thanks to a strong race in their preliminary heat on Sunday morning. The duo then took fourth overall (7:27.038) later that day in the final.
Continuing the double duty theme, that pair was also part of the team’s Mens 2nd Varsity 4x boat this past weekend. After qualifying for the A final on Saturday, Han and Moomjy, along with fellow juniors Michale Shkop and Luciano Salandino, rowed to fifth in their A final race on Sunday (7:09.754).
The Mens Varsity 4x quad of Will Nasr, Lucas Evers, Sam Scharfenberg, and Tristan Riedel, which had raced their way into A final thanks to a second-place finish in their preliminary heat on Saturday, ultimately finished sixth in the Sunday final (6:33.537).
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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