Ridgewood Crew won the 2024 Hidden River Chase Boys 1st Junior 4x race for the second year in a row. This year’s boat was crewed by Lucas Evers, Will Nasr, Tristan Riedel, and Uhmjoo Han. Photo credit: Mark Riedel
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, Ridgewood Crew capped off a highly successful 2024 fall season at the Hidden River Chase in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on Sunday, claiming a gold medal and four top-three finishes overall. At the 4,000-meter event on the Schuylkill River that featured more than 200 boats from over 30 clubs around the region, Ridgewood had the second-highest number of team entries, with 14.
The strong performance this past weekend added to the team’s already impressive tally for its 2024 head racing season. In all, Ridgewood claimed six gold medals across the fall’s five competitions, and rowed its way to 18 podium finishes, including eight second-place and four third-place marks. The team also sent a record-high 10 competitors to Boston to race in the world’s largest regatta, the Head of the Charles.
“Sunday’s race was yet another example of how well this team has been rowing throughout the fall, with both young novices and experienced senior rowers putting in standout performances, especially since many of them are in new boats or racing situations,” said Ridgewood Crew Head Coach Boris Roque-Alvarez. “And to bring home medals against such stiff competition in these more demanding head races says a lot about the team’s overall commitment and hard work this year.”
The team’s top performance of the day came in the Boys 1st Junior 4x race, where senior Lucas Evers, juniors Will Nasr and Uhmjoo Han, and sophomore Tristan Riedel eked out a narrow victory. Their time of 13:11.030 was less than half a second faster than the second-place boat from Haddon Township. The win was something of a déjà vu moment as well, since Evers, Nasr, and Riedel took first place in this same event a year ago — against the same team and three of the same Haddon rowers from that 2023 boat.
Ridgewood also posted a fifth-place finish in the Boys 1st Junior 4x event, which featured 16 boats in total. The team’s all-junior crew of Sam Scharfenberg, Michael Shkop, Matt Moomjy, and Luciano Saladino completed the course in 13:32.950.
In the boys junior varsity version of this event, sophomore Chris Liang, along with freshmen Graham Richardson, David Pasternak, and Kai Bissie came in second place, with a time of 14:08.120. Of the 12 boats in this Boys 2nd Junior 4x race, this Ridgewood crew was the youngest, with a cumulative age of just 59. The race’s winning boat from Haddon Township had a cumulative age 10 years older.
The team’s other podium finish in the quad races came in the Girls Junior Novice 4x race. There, junior Ilaria Cupi, sophomores Marelia Leou and Nicole Martino, and freshman Zurie Yela took third, coming in at 19:38.580. As novices, all four are in their first year of competitive rowing.
Switching to the singles races, Ridgewood had back-to-back finishes in the Boys 2nd Junior 1x event, as sophomores Andrew Segura and Josh Reynolds slid across the line in third and fourth place with times of 17:38.770 and 17:48.620, respectively.
Senior Julia Smith finished fourth out of 13 rowers in her Girls 1st Junior 1x race with a time of 18:27.730.
Fellow Ridgewood senior Will Carroll took fifth-place in a crowded Boys 1st Junior 1x race, where his time of 16:33.080 bested 15 of the event’s 20 total rowers.
Full times and results for Ridgewood Crew at the 2024 Hidden River Chase (https://www.regattacentral.com/regatta/results2/?job_id=9234).
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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