Medals shine brighter on a wet and gloomy day! From left to right. Coach Boris Roque-Alvarez, Aiofe Ali, Thelma Flowers, Ryan Mincey, Sam Ponomarciuc, Anais Friedrich, Elsa Friedrich, Lucas Evers, Will Nasr, Sam Scharfenberg, Tristan Riedel, Uhmjoo Han, Matt Moomjy, Coach Kassandra Luna, and Coach Bob O’Donnell (Photo Credit: Gabi Reidel)
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Philadelphia Pennsylvania , Ridgewood Crew powered through a cold and
damp weekend at the 2024 City Championships in Philadelphia with a blistering hot
performance, sending nine of its 12 boats to the finals and bringing home three golds, two
trophies, and a silver medal. Its three gold medals tied with four other schools for the most
first-place finishes at the meet.
The two-day event on the Schuylkill River, hosted annually by the Philadelphia Scholastic
Rowing Association brought together 82 teams and nearly 550 competitors from the mid-
Atlantic region in a series of 1500-meter races. Teams first competed in a time trial on Saturday to qualify for semifinals and finals races on Sunday. Only the top six boats in each event made the eventual finals.
“This was a large and very competitive meet. Our strong showing proves we're hitting our peak just in time for regionals and nationals. I am confident the hard work and focus will continue to pay off in a big way!” said Ridgewood Crew Head Coach Boris Roque-Alvarez.
Senior standouts Elsa and Anais Friedrich are certainly in a winning groove. They cruised to victory in the Girls Lightweight 2x finals race (5:44.210), taking home their fourth gold medal in as many weeks as well as the Baldwin School Trophy. They were one of three Ridgewood Crew teams that ran the table this past weekend, taking first place in their time trial, semifinals, and finals races.
Joining them in this undefeated performance was the all-sophomore Boys Junior Varsity 2x boat of Uhmjoo Han and Matt Moomjy. The pair scorched the second-place boat in the time trials by more than nine seconds and then improved their margin of victory in the finals, winning by more than 12 seconds (5:10.120).
The Boys Junior Varsity 4x team of Lucas Evers, Will Nasr, Sam Scharfenberg, and Tristan Riedel also pulled off the weekend hat trick, but they had a pitched battle every step of the way.
After eking out a top time on Saturday by just four-tenths of a second, the four won their semi- final by two seconds, and took finals gold by less than four seconds on Sunday (4:43.300).
With their victory, the four also claimed the DiLucca Family Trophy.
Ridgewood Crew’s Girls Junior Varsity 4x boat of Samantha Ponomarciuc, Thelma Flowers, Ryan Mincey, and Aoife Ali added another medal to the team’s tally (5:29.790).
In a highly competitive finals race where the top three teams were separated by under five seconds, they captured a silver medal in a near photo finish, beating out the third-place boat by less than a boat length.
Other notable finalists for Ridgewood included the Boys Lightweight 2x duo of James Ryan and Daniel Hept, who finished fourth, just a boat length short of the third-place team (5:32.520).
Ridgewood also notched two fifth-place finishes in the Sunday finals in the Boys Varsity 2x
race, crewed by junior Will Carroll and sophomore Luciano Saladino (5:12.530), and the
Boys Junior Varsity 8+ boat, comprised of John Cavagnuolo, John Aguilar, Gryphon Smith, Andrii Onizhuk, Oliver Ilin-Schneider, Michael Shkop, Anthony Dezelan, Nicolas Melarti, and coxswain Mathias Nguyen Van-Duong (4:49.870)
The Boys Freshman 4x boat of Atticus Smith, Chris Liang, Andrew Segura, and Josh Reynolds came in sixth overall (5:30.130).
Full times and results for Ridgewood Crew for the 2024 PSRA City Championships
(https://www.regattacentral.com/regatta/results2/?job_id=8865&org_id=0 ).
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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Logistical question….how does RHS get their boats down to Philadelphia every weekend..?
Likely a trailer that hold 8 boats, 4 on each side
https://theridgewoodblog.net/ridgewood-crew-wins-gold-at-the-2021-usrowing-mid-atlantic-youth-championships/
Picture in the above linked blog post