Ridgewood Crew’s Girls 1st Junior 4x boat took second at the 2025 Hidden River Chase. Freshman Lucia Krauza and sophomore Zurie Yela (pictured above) also won gold in the regatta’s Girls 2nd Junior 2x race, while freshman Jaya Suri and Maya Ashwin came in second in the Girls 1st Junior 2x event. Photo credit: Diva Yela
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – At Sunday’s Hidden River Chase regatta on the Schuylkill River, Ridgewood Crew finished off its 2025 head racing season the same way it had performed throughout the fall: by winning races and bringing home plenty of hardware.
Facing dozens of teams across the mid-Atlantic, Ridgewood rowers topped the field in six different events and scored three other podium finishes on the Schuylkill’s 4,000-meter course. Its six gold medals were twice as many as any other club, helping power it to a team victory with 117.5 overall points, easily outdistancing the second-place club’s 94.75.
The team win also showcased Ridgewood’s impressive rowing depth and breadth. Its rowers took first in singles, doubles, and quad races, as well as in freshman, 2nd junior (junior varsity), and 1st junior (varsity) categories. And its male and female rowers contributed an evenly balanced 59 and 58.5 points, respectively, to the team total.
“This is the best we’ve ever done at this regatta, and it is a fitting way to end such a successful season where we set numerous club records,” said Ridgewood Crew Head Coach Boris Roque-Alvarez. “So many of our rowers showed up today and made a strong statement against teams and competitors that we will be facing during next year’s sprint season as well. It shows just how bright the future is for this team.”
The top individual performer on the day was junior Tristan Riedel, who took home double gold.
In the morning, Riedel bested 14 other rowers to take first in the Boys 1st Junior 1x race, winning by almost 20 seconds (15:19.44). Then, in the afternoon, he steered Ridgewood’s Boys 1st Junior 4x crew to victory against a field of 20 total boats, beating the runner-up by more than 25 seconds (13:05.50). Riedel was joined in the varsity quad boat by sophomore Graham Richardson, and seniors Will Nasr and Sam Scharfenberg.
Because Hidden River featured no eight-person boats, Ridgewood’s varsity boys quad also claimed the fastest time of the entire regatta. And their win marked the third straight year that the team has brought home gold in this event. Notably, Nasr and Riedel were among the crew for all three victories.
Ridgewood Crew’s Tristan Riedel won double gold at the 2025 Hidden River Chase in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, taking first in the Boys 1st Junior 1x race and — along with sophomore Graham Richardson and seniors Will Nasr and Sam Scharfenberg — in the Boys 1st Junior 4x event. Photo credit: TK – Mark Riedel
Nasr also made a podium appearance in the Boys 1st Junior 1x race, finishing third (15:44.25). Fellow Ridgewood teammate and senior Andrii Onizhuk came in fifth (16:46.38).
Freshman Lucia Krauza and sophomore Zurie Yela put in dual standout performances of their own. The pair first won gold in a competitive Girls 2nd Junior 2x race (17:07.02) and were half of Ridgewood’s runner-up boat in the last event of the regatta, the Girls 1st Junior 4x race (15:31.13). The other pair in that second-place quad boat, freshman Jaya Suri and senior Maya Ashwin, came in second in the Girls 1st Junior 2x race (16:08.05).
Ridgewood swept the top of the Freshman Junior 2x races. Ninth graders Graham Glidden and Lincoln Boudreau took home the gold in the Boys event (16:55.82), while Grace Demercado and Courtney Spence won their respective Girls race (18:10.30).
After finishing second in last year’s Boys 2nd Junior 4x race at this regatta, Ridgewood left no doubt who was the top boat in this event in 2025. Sophomores Wesley Richardson, David Pasternak, and Kai Bissie, and junior Brendan Finucane, powered down the course and ultimately outpaced the second-place boat by nearly 45 seconds (13:51.39).
An all-sophomore boat of George Rivkin, Luca Fisher, Conner Cinco, and Alex Evers came in fifth in the Boys 2nd Junior 4x race (14:52.25)
Other performances of note on Sunday included the all-senior, all-lightweight Boys 1st Junior 4x boat of Daniel Hept, James Ryan, Paul Hallowell, and Luciano Saladino, which came in fifth (13:45.59). And Hope Martino’s sixth-place finish in the Girls 1st Junior 1x race (18:31.06)
Full times and results for Ridgewood Crew at the 2025 Hidden River Chase (https://www.regattacentral.com/regatta/results2?job_id=9959&org_id=0).
In the program’s 20-plus years, Ridgewood Crew has 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.
