Rising sophomore Tristan Riedel was Ridgewood Crew’s top performer at the 2024 Independence Day Regatta, coming in third overall in the Mens U17 1x race. (Photo credit:Mark Riedel)
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, Ridgewood Crew’s summer rowing session picked up where its successful spring season left off, as athletes scored standout performances at the Independence Day Regatta in Philadelphia on June 29, the Overpeck Summer Sprints in Leonia, N.J. on July 27, and the Royal Canadian Henley Regatta in St. Catharines, Canada from July 30 to August 4.
“This summer, our rowers excelled at some of the toughest regattas from Philly to Canada,” said Ridgewood Crew Head Coach Boris Roque-Alvarez. “Veterans matured, newcomers shined, and our team boats made waves. This fall is looking bright.”
Seventeen rowers traveled to the Schuylkill River to kick off Ridgewood’s summer season at the Independence Day Regatta, a 2,000-meter event that featured more than 1,000 boats from 93 clubs. The top performer of the day was rising sophomore Tristan Riedel who rowed his way to the final, where he came in third in the Mens U17 1x race (8:52.45). The team’s only other entry to make the finals came in the Mens U17 4x event, which featured a boat of rising junior Luciano Saladino and three rising freshmen, Kai Bissie, David Pasternak, and Graham Richardson. Their boat of four came in fourth (7:32.19), finishing less than 11 seconds behind a second-place boat from GMS Rowing that placed eighth overall at the 2024 USRowing Youth Nationals three weeks earlier.
In the Mens Youth 1x semi-final at the Independence Day Regatta, rising 12th grader Lucas Evers just missed qualifying for the final, finishing a half second behind the second place boat (8:52.97). The graduated senior duo of Anais and Elsa Friedrich, rowing in the Womens Youth 2x race, fell one place short of qualifying as well, also placing third in the semi-finals (8:59.50). And for a fun, multi-generational family twist, Riedel teamed up with this dad, Marc, from the Passaic River Rowing Association, for the regatta’s Father/Son 2x 1000-meter sprint, where the pair came in third in their heat (4:02.56).
In late July, Ridgewood joined 34 other clubs at the Overpeck Summer Sprints in Leonia. For the first time, this event ran for two days, and it featured nearly 450 boats from novice to masters age groups. Youth competitions were all held on the first day, with 2000-meter time trials and finals for those in U17 and up age categories and 1000-meter heat distances for novice and U15 rowers.
Racing in its proverbial backyard, and on an Overpeck course where the team held a scrimmage just one week earlier, Ridgewood dominated. In all, Ridgewood pulled in seven golds, three silvers, and one bronze medal out of its 21 U17 and up entries.
The Mens U19 4x boat of Evers, Riedel, and rising juniors Will Nasr and Uhmjoo Han powered through the time trial and then won its final handily, beating the runner-up from Neried Boat Club by 17 seconds (6:44.70). Riedel, Nasr, and Evers also picked up a second, individual medal each during the day. Riedel earned a second gold by taking first in the Mens U17 1x final (8:13.30). Nasr and Evers won silver and bronze, respectively, in the Mens U19 1x final (8:14.70 and 8:21.90). Of note, Han came in fourth in that same U19 1x final, behind Evers (8:46.60).
At the 2024 Overpeck Summer Sprints, Ridgewood’s Thelma Flowers took gold in the Womens U17 1x race. (Photo credit: Jae Han)
Richardson and rising junior Sam Scharfenberg also took two trips to the podium at Overpeck. The pair claimed silver in the Mens U17 2x race (7:36.50), and they made up half of the gold medal-winning Mens U17 4x boat, which also featured Saladino and Pasternak (7:10.50). This younger Ridgewood quad exacted a measure of revenge for the Independence Day Regatta, eking out a 1.1-second victory over the GMS boat that beat it a month earlier.
The Mens Lightweight 2x boat of James Ryan and Daniel Hept also continued Ridgewood’s winning ways (7:54.60). Joining in on the top finishes were the team’s women’s rowers in the individual events. Rising senior Julia Smith took first in the Womens U19 1x B final (9:30.40), while rising junior Thelma Flowers did the same in the Womens U17 1x event (9:16.50).
Ridgewood also brought home another gold at the event thanks to an alumni racer. Sam Boogaert, a longtime standout performer with Ridgewood Crew who graduated in June 2023 and now rows at Skidmore College, returned to the team for the summer and promptly won the Mens Open 1x race at Overpeck (8:11.30).
Just days after racing at Overpeck, 16 rowers from Ridgewood traveled to the prestigious Royal Canadian Henley Regatta, held on a 2,000-meter course on Martindale Pond, just south of Lake Ontario, Now in its 140th year, the 2024 Henley consisted of six days of races and brought together nearly 2,000 boats from 112 clubs across five countries. Each event at the Henley stretches across three consecutive days; the first day is heats, the second is semi-finals, the third a final.
Facing some of the stiffest competition across the U.S. and Canada, Ridgewood saw five different boats reach the finals and four of those finish the final top five. Many of these events featured 50, 60, or even 70-plus entries.
The Friedrich twin sister racing duo, for example, faced a field of 75 other boats in one of their events, the Womens U19 Double. While they didn’t make the finals in that category, they did qualify for the finals in their second event, the Womens U23 Lightweight Double.
Again racing for his alumni team, Ridgewood’s Boogaert came in fifth in the final of the Mens U23 Single race on Friday, August 2 (7:01.00). Coincidentally, racing in the lane next to Boogaert in the final and coming in fourth overall for the Green Racing Project was one of his former Ridgewood Crew teammates, Nate Harris (6:59.69). During the academic year, Harris rows for Northeastern University.
On Saturday, rising sophomore Riedel also came in fifth in his final, reprising his successful summer run in the Mens U17 Single category (7:25.03). His event started with 61 rowers in total. His female counterpart in the Womens U17 Single category, Thelma Flowers, faced off against a field of 63 boats, winning her initial heat before coming in fifth in her semi-final and falling short of the top two places to advance.
Finishing off Ridgewood’s hat trick of fifth-place finishes was the Mens U17 Double boat of Scharfenberg and Richardson, which had their final race on Sunday (7:12.59). Their category featured 52 entries initially, including a fellow Ridgewood boat crewed by Saladino and Pasternak, which made it to the semi-finals.
The Ridgewood Mens U19 4x boat featuring Lucas Evers, Will Nasr, Tristan Riedel, and Uhmjoo Han took first at the 2024 Overpeck Summer Sprints and came in fourth overall at the 2024 Royal Canadian Henley Regatta. (Photo credit: Jae Han)
Ridgewood’s best finish overall at the Henley also came on Sunday, thanks to the oars of the Mens U19 Quad boat. This boat’s Nasr, Evers, and Han had raced in the Mens U19 Single event earlier in the week, with only Nasr making the semi-finals, where he finished fourth and failed to advance. But rowing as a quad, with Riedel, this group won both their first-day heat on Friday as well as their respective semi-final on Saturday. In the final on Sunday, they confronted a stacked lineup that had been winnowed from an original field of 33. Their boat ultimately finished in fourth (6:14.250), just six seconds off the winning time.
Full times and results for Ridgewood Crew at the 2024 Independence Day Regatta (https://www.regattacentral.com/regatta/results2/?job_id=8896&org_id=0), Overpeck Summer Sprints (https://legacy.herenow.com/results/#/races/21258/results), and the 2024 Royal Canadian Henly Regatta (https://henleyregatta.ca/henley-results/).
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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so great to see Ridgewood doing so well in this!