Ridgewood Crew holding trophies for winning the New Jersey boys and girls sculling team titles at the 2026 Garden State Scholastic Championships on the Cooper River. This was the fourth consecutive high school state rowing title for the boys’ team and the first for the girls’ team since 2023. (Credit: Reed Richardson)
Ridgewood Crew showed why it is among the best rowing teams in the nation this past weekend with dominant, back-to-back performances on the Cooper River in southern New Jersey
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Pennsauken, New Jersey – Ridgewood Crew showed why it is among the best rowing teams in the nation this past weekend with dominant, back-to-back performances on the Cooper River in southern New Jersey. In all, the team’s boats earned 15 total medals, three trophies, and two state titles, while qualifying 11 entries for the Scholastic Rowing national championships next month.
On Saturday, Ridgewood was among the more than 50 high schools competing at the Garden State Scholastic Championships, where hundreds of New Jersey athletes in ninth through 12th grade race in 1,500-meter heats and finals. By placing first, second, or third in this regatta, depending on the event, competitors automatically earn a berth to the Scholastic Rowing Association of America’s national regatta, which will be held in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, this year at the end of May. Ridgewood’s 11 qualifiers set a new school record and was the most of any school at this year’s event.
Returning to the same race course on Sunday, Ridgewood faced a much deeper field of both high schools and clubs, with nearly 600 rowers from more than 70 teams across eight states competing in the Cooper Cup Regatta. At this event, rowers race in 1,500-meter time trials in the morning and, if they qualify, compete again in 2,000-meter finals races in the afternoon.
“Winning both the boys and girls state sculling trophies on Saturday was a tremendous achievement,” said Ridgewood Crew Head Coach Boris Roque-Alvarez. “New Jersey high school rowing teams are among the strongest in the country, so for us to win single, double, and four-person races and to qualify a record number of boats shows off the depth and skill of these rowers.
“To then turn around and, one day later, beat out some of the best club teams in the region was especially tough,” Roque Alvarez added. “Still, our more experienced rowers were ready for the challenge and it showed, as all of those who won gold on both days were either seniors or in a varsity boat.”
But it was a rising crop of younger rowers who powered the girls team to their state title on Saturday, where all three of the winning crews qualified for a trip to scholastic nationals.
Leading the way was Ridgewood freshman Jaya Suri, who cruised to victory in the Garden State Womens High School Senior 1x event, winning by a nearly 25-second margin of victory (7:46.47).
The all-underclassmen Womens Junior 4x boat of freshmen Courtney Spence and Gracie Demercado and sophomores Nicole Manevich and Zurie Yela also won gold (6:40.50). Ridgewood has now won this event for three consecutive years.
And freshman Lucia Krauza paired with senior and Ridgewood team co-captain Maya Ashwin to claim a commanding victory in the Womens Senior 2x event, outpacing the field by more than 30 seconds (7:02.63).
Sophomore Marelia Leou came in fourth in the Garden State’s Womens Junior 1x final (10:12.80).
On the boys side, Ridgewood claimed five individual event golds at Garden State Regatta on Saturday, and finished on the podium in three other races. All of those eight crews punched their ticket to scholastic nationals in Tennessee.
Senior Uhmjoo Han was runner-up in the Mens High School Senior 1x race (7:13.56), while fellow 12th grader Andriy Onizhuk also made it to the event’s final.
The team scored another silver medal in the Junior 2x race with the all-junior boat of Atticus Smith and Gabe Dozortsev (6:21.54).
Ridgewood’s lone medal in sweeping races came in the High School Lightweight 4+ event. There, seniors Paul Hallowell and Daniel Hept, along with sophomores Isaac Reynolds, Alex Evers, and coxswain Sam Rizzo took the bronze (5:51.42).
Senior Luciano Saladino won a Garden State scholastic title in a doubles boat for the third straight year on Saturday. After winning back to back golds in 2024 and 2025 in the Senior 2x, he raced to victory in this year’s High School Lightweight 2x race, partnering with senior James Ryan, who had been in the winning boat for this lightweight event last year (6:15.51).
Also repeating as champions were seniors Michael Shkop and Matt Moomjy, who transitioned from winning in the Junior 4x event last year to taking gold in the High School Senior 2x boat in 2026 (6:21.43).
Ridgewood also completed a three-peat at Garden State this past weekend in the High School Junior 4x race. This year, it was junior Brendan Finucane and sophomores David Pasternak, George Rivkin, and Kai Bissue taking the title, walking away from the field from the start and winning by a margin of more than 23 seconds (5:33.92).
Freshman Graham Glidden, Lincoln Boudreau, Marko Granzan, and Jun Lee had their racing debut in a quad on Saturday and made an immediate impact, winning by nearly 35 seconds in the High School Freshman 4x race (6:13.96).
The Garden State regatta’s marquee sculling event, the Senior 4x race, saw Ridgewood again defend its crown as reigning champion. Sophomores Graham and Wesley Richardson, junior Tristan Riedel, and senior Will Nasr took home the gold, reprising their 10-second margin of victory from 2025 (5:16.53).
This same crew doubled up its weekend gold tally the next day with a hard-fought victory in the Cooper Cup’s Mens U19 4x event, where the winner takes home the regatta’s eponymously named trophy. After placing third in a closely contested time trial in the morning and falling behind in the first 500 meters of the afternoon final, Ridgewood methodically reeled in the leader and found an extra gear coming down the home stretch. Ultimately, their boat surged ahead and crossed the finish line leading by three seats over the second-place boat (6:43.19).
Ridgewood Crew’s varsity quad won the 2026 Cooper Cup Regatta’s eponymous trophy for the fastest Under-19 4x boat. Shown here (from left to right): Assistant Head Coach Bob O’Connor, Graham Richardson, Will Nasr, Wesley Richardson, Tristan Riedel, Head Coach Boris Roque Alvarez, and Assistant Head Coach Joe Calvaruso (Credit: Reed Richardson)
The pair of Saladino and Ryan likewise struck gold for a second time this past Sunday. After finishing seven-plus seconds behind the fastest crew in the time trial, this senior duo flipped the script in the final, pulling away from that same boat and winning by more than a boat length of open water (7:30.56).
Sunday’s six-boat Mens 2v 4x final at the Cooper Cup also featured a dogfight between two Ridgewood crews, who had qualified as the fastest and third-fastest in the time trial. In the end, the all-senior boat of Shkop, Moomjy, Onizhuk, and Han, which had only had two days of practice together prior to this race, proved to be too much for the rest of the competition and took home the gold (7:05.53). The other Ridgewood boat of Finucane, Pasternak, Rivkin, and Bissie kept pace, however, and claimed the bronze as part of a breakaway pack that clearly separated from the field (7:12.35).
The team’s other notable finish in Sunday’s finals at the Cooper Cup came in the Womens U19 1x event. Freshman Jaya Suri, facing off against a field of almost all 18-year-old seniors, held her own and came in fourth (9:34.05).
Full times and results for Ridgewood Crew at the 2026 Garden State Scholastic Championships can be found at https://www.regattacentral.com/regatta/results2?job_id=10226&org_id=0 and for the 2026 Cooper Cup Regatta at https://www.regattacentral.com/regatta/results2?job_id=10144&org_id=0.
About Learn To Row
Ridgewood Crew’s Learn To Row program is open to Ridgewood Public School students in grades 6–11 and is the perfect introduction to the sport. Crew is one of the few sports students can start and excel at at any point in their Ridgewood Public Schools career, and with sessions running June through September at the Bergen County Rowing Center in Lyndhurst, NJ, there’s no better time to get on the water. To register or learn more, visit www.ridgewoodcrew.com.
About Ridgewood Crew
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.
