Simsbury Crew Competes at NE Jr/High School Fall Championship

Simsbury High School’s crew teams competed in the 9th Annual New England Junior & High School Fall Championship Regatta, held at Lake Quinsigamond in Worcester, MA on October 7. The regatta featured a two-mile course for novices, and a 2.5 mile race for varsity crews.

Overcast skies and temperatures in the mid-seventies made for comfortable rowing conditions for the 49 New England high schools and rowing clubs that participated in the regatta. Several Connecticut high schools submitted entries, including Avon, Farmington, Glastonbury and Lewis S. Mills.

Simsbury’s girls first varsity boat competed among 25 crews in the Womens 1st Varsity 8+ event, edging out Hingham High School (MA) by less than 2 seconds for a bronze medal in the high school division. Rowing in the Simsbury Bank were Maddie Dempsey, Millie Malloy, Emily Langin, Jess Serra, Abby Hammel, Kyra Sanborn-Burch, Lucy O’Sullivan, Izabella Kuczorski, and Christopher Norwell (coxswain), who finished the 2.5 mile course with a time of 16:43.8.

Simsbury’s boys first varsity boat competed among 23 crews in the Mens 1st Varsity 8+ race, rowing to a 9th place finish in the high school division with a time of 14:57.5, ahead of Farmington by 4.5 seconds. Rowing in the Ironhorse were Will Dempsey, Adam Stine, Wyatt Jacobson, John Cody, James Hammel, Ethan Boyd, Elias Hanna, Chris Harvill, and Joe Bogdan (coxswain).

The boys and girls second and third varsity boats also had strong races, with the girls second and third crews each placing 4th in their races, and the boys second and third crews each placing 8th in theirs.

An exciting part of the day was watching Simsbury's novice rowers compete in their first race of the season. The boys crew rowed well, finishing 10th among 19 crews with a time of 13:04.9. Novice girls also showed great determination in their race, finishing the two-mile course with a time of 15:37.6. Making their race debut for the boys were Jack Galt, Jack Williams, Ryan Varney, Matthew Dacey, Parker Zeller, Joshua Phillips, Noah Paradise, Simon Green, and Alex Picoult (coxswain). Powering the novice girls’ boat were Emily DeMaio, Addy Bullen, Sydney Valch, Charlotte Derway, Alyssa Page, Nola Hallemeier, Sofia Hanna, Rachel Coppinger, and Aubree Heine (coxswain).

Simsbury’s Varsity and Junior Varsity crews are now preparing for the Head of the Fish Regatta, to be held in Saratoga Springs, NY on October 28.

For more information about the Simsbury Crew program, visit www.simsburycrew.org.

Photo credits: Photo 1: Sarah Sedor; Photos 3 and 4: Elizabeth Derway