Ridgewood Crew Ends Season on a High Note!

*Photo credit Janice Soderlund

June 21,2017

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, Ridgewood Crew sent two boats to Sarasota, Florida for the US Rowing Youth National Championship last weekend to close out a great crew season. The crews were eligible to compete against the fastest youth boats in the country because they placed in the top 3 in their Mid-Atlantic Regional qualifier at Mercer Lake in May.

Charles Koontz competed in the Men’s Varsity 1x and Sam Daspin and Spencer Campbell competed in the Men’s Lightweight 2x event. Both boats made the C Final for their fast events with Koontz coming in 4th in the C Final and the lightweight double coming in 4th as well.

Sending representatives from the team to US Rowing Youth Nationals tops off an impressive season for Ridgewood Crew. The championship racing season includes the Garden State Championship Regatta, City Championships, Mid-Atlantic Championships, Stotesbury Cup Regatta, SRAA National Championships, and the US Rowing Youth Nationals. The team qualified numerous boats into the finals and won many medals throughout the championship competitions.

Just to highlight some of the successes, Ridgewood Crew received 39 total medals at Garden State Championships, 22 medals at City Championships, 9 medals at the Mid-Atlantic Youth Championship, 4 medals at Stotesbury Cup, and 6 medals at the SRAA Nationals.

Of particular note was the Women’s Varsity 2x of Seniors Claire Callaghan and Jordan Wittmaack, who won Gold Medals at City Championships, Stotesbury Cup, and SRAA Nationals.

Ridgewood Crew is graduating 14 seniors this week. Of the 14, 8 student-athletes are planning to continue rowing as college athletes:

Claire Callaghan – University of Connecticut

Jordan Wittmaack – West Virginia University

Melissa Dexter – Univerversity of Massachusetts – Amherst

Isabella DeGregorio – Boston College

Erica Lehman – Philadelphia University

Charles Koontz – Trinity College

Patrick DuBois – Saint Joseph’s University

Ian Soderlund – Marist College

All the Ridgewood Crew seniors should be proud of what they have accomplished as rowers for Ridgewood Crew.

Next, many of the athletes will enter Summer and Fall Club Rowing for Maroon Blades Rowing Club.

Any student-athletes interested in joining the team and learning to row should visit www.ridgewoodcrew.com or email row@ridgewoodcrew.com for more information.