Ridgewood Crew shows off its hardware in a group photo with Coaches Boris Roque-Alvarez and Kassandra Luna (Photo credit:Elizabeth Suri)
Ridgewood had sent 11 of its 17 boats through to the finals, claimed seven total medals, and amassed 131 points among sculling teams, good enough for third overall out of 29 programs
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
West Windsor, New Jersey – Ridgewood Crew broke a team record this past Sunday by qualifying nine boats and 21 rowers for the USRowing Youth National Championships during its racing at the 2026 Mid-Atlantic Regional Championships.
Facing a deep field of 550 entries from more than five-dozen scholastic and club teams across New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, Delaware, and the District of Columbia, Ridgewood’s overall performance established it as among the best programs in the region. By the regatta’s end, Ridgewood had sent 11 of its 17 boats through to the finals, claimed seven total medals, and amassed 131 points among sculling teams, good enough for third overall out of 29 programs. That mark was also tops among all scholastic sculling teams.
The Mid-Atlantic regatta is one of seven regional events across the country where the top four rowers in designated events earn automatic bids to USRowing’s Youth National regatta. This past weekend’s races were held at a 2,000 meter course on central New Jersey’s Mercer Lake, where boats competed in time trials and, depending on the number of entrants, semi-finals on Saturday. The remaining top boats from those preliminary rounds then faced off in a final race on Sunday.
“The consistent excellence of this team, boys and girls, novice to varsity, freshman through senior, is a credit to their hard work and willingness to trust in their training. That’s a big reason why we’re sending the most boats and rowers ever to Youth Nationals,” said Ridgewood Crew Head Coach Boris Roque-Alvarez. He added that 12 of this year’s qualifiers for Youth Nationals were returning to Florida for a second time or more. “And while some of these rowers winning medals today have been racing in the same boat for years, others who got on the podium have only been practicing together for weeks or even days.”
On a Sunday full of exhilarating performances and nail-biting finishes, Ridgewood’s lone gold medal win was ironically missing most of this drama. That’s because freshman Jaya Suri torched the field in the Womens U17 1x event, beating the second-place boat by more than 12 seconds (8:24.62).
With her smooth, commanding victory, Suri appeared to easily handle the pressure of racing for a spot in Youth Nationals, likely because she already qualified for Florida in 2025 by winning the Womens U17 2x race at this regatta a year ago.
Her crew partner in that winning doubles boat was Zurie Yela, who also rowed her way onto the podium and punched her ticket to Florida on Sunday, racing in the same event as last year. Now a sophomore, Yela combined with freshman Lucia Krauza to take the silver, eking out a thrilling, runner-up finish over the third-place boat by just a half-second (8:16.20).
Also racing in the Womens U17 2x final was the 9th-grade duo of Courtney Spence and Gracie Demercado. Putting on a serious late charge, this impressive novice boat came within just 2.5 seconds of fourth place and a Youth Nationals qualification, finishing fifth (8:43.39).
In the Mens U17 2x race, lightweight sophomores Isaac Reynolds and Alex Evers quickly joined three other boats to break away from the field in a lead pack. With a Youth Nationals bid all but wrapped up, they went hunting for hardware. With a furious, last-minute surge down the stretch, the pair captured the bronze, finishing a mere .27 seconds ahead of the fourth-place boat (7:29.84).
It took another hard-charging sprint at the finish for Ridgewood sophomore Kai Bissie to secure his Mens U17 1x bid to Youth Nats. Racing out of lane five with two other boats hanging with him on both his right and left, Bissie poured on the power in the last 250 meters, passing what was the fifth-place boat and falling just .60 seconds short of the podium (7:48.95).
Doing double duty on Sunday, Bissie not only qualified in the single, he also earned a second bid to Florida in the Mens Youth 2V 4x final. Notably, those two races for Bissie were only two hours apart. He joined fellow sophomores David Pasternak and George Rivkin, and junior Brendan Finucane, in a quad that slipped past the fifth-place boat by barely more than a second to take fourth (6:37.49).
The team hit the daily double in that Mens Youth 2V 4x race, as it had pushed two boats into Sunday’s final. And it paid off, as the all-senior quad of Michael Shkop, Matt Moomjy, Andrii Onizhuk, and Uhmjoo Han slid across the finish line just .35 seconds behind the winner, taking home the silver and sending two Ridgewood boats to Florida in this event (6:33.51).
The biggest underdog story of the day for Ridgewood unquestionably came in the Mens Youth 2x race. There, the team’s lightweight senior duo of Luciano Saladino and James Ryan claimed a well-deserved runner-up finish (6:58.26). This qualified Saladino for this third annual trip to Youth Nats in Florida and Ryan’s second.
Their silver medal was made even more impressive by the fact that the only boat to beat them was crewed by an imposing former member of the USRowing U19 national team — who placed fifth in the 2025 U19 World Championships 1x race — and his younger, taller phenom brother, both of whom have eight inches of height and 40 pounds each on the Ridgewood pair.
Ridgewood’s crew with the most experience racing at Youth Nationals also punched its ticket on Sunday. Senior Will Nasr will be making his fourth straight appearance in Flordia after he qualified in the Mens Youth 4x race. He was joined by sophomore Graham Richardson and junior Tristan Riedel, both of whom earned their third career Youth Nats bid, and novice 10th grader Wesley Richardson, who will be making his Florida debut next month. Their quad boat was part of a closely-knotted triad that all stayed within striking distance of each other for the entire race. Ultimately, Ridgewood claimed the bronze, falling just over .7 seconds shy of second place (6:20.35) and 3.5 seconds behind the winner.
Ridgewood’s final medal of the day came in the Womens Youth Inclusive 2x race, where senior Maya Ashwin and sophomore Marelia Leou came in second (8:58.80).
Full times and results for Ridgewood Crew for the 2026 Mid-Atlantic Youth Championships (https://usrowing.regatta.time-team.com/usrowing-midatlantic-youth/2026).
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.
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