Norwalk River Rowing Wins Two Golds at Club National Championships

By Andrea Cragin

Norwalk River Rowing’s Kris Petreski won two gold medals and teammate Liam McDonough won one gold medal at the U.S. Rowing Club National Championships in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, which ended on July 20.

The duo was competing in the 16 and under events. Petreski’s golds were in the double and the single, and McDonough won in the double with Petreski. Petreski won every qualifier and heat, semi and final he entered. Norwalk River Rowing’s Amelia Ornato also traveled down to Tennessee for the championships, and made it to the semi-finals in a combined double rowing with a friend from GMS.

The championships are open to youth clubs all over the country, and there were 1,125 boats entered from 80 different clubs.One week later the whole team participated in the Philadelphia Youth Regatta, which included nearly 500 entries from 43 clubs, mostly from the northeast.

Norwalk River Rowing returned to Connecticut with two gold medals, three silver medals and one bronze from this regatta. Petreski and McDonough again took gold in the 16 and under double, nearly 20 seconds in front of second place. Petreski added a gold in the 16 and under single, about 20 seconds ahead of team mate McDonough, who brought home the silver.

Norwalk almost swept the event, with Kaare Andersen six-tenths out of third place, in fourth. Norwalk resident Brian Helms and George Mgaloblishvili won silver in a pair, and Greg Bauerfeld won the bronze in the 18 and under single, just eight-tenths of a second behind the second-place finisher.

Petreski, McDonough, Helms, Mgaloblishivi, Bauerfeld and Will Pacella were joined by Norwalk rowers Kevin Conover, James Koenigsberg and Patrick Lyon to win silver in the 8+ 500- meter dash.

photo: Norwalk River Rowing’s Kris Petreski (left) and Liam McDonough with their first place medals