New Trier Rowers End a Successful Fall Season on a High Note

New Trier rowers achieved great success at a number of local and regional regattas held on beautiful Fall weekends in late September and October. At their first regatta of the season, the Milwaukee River Challenge, New Trier captured three medals including a gold in the Men’s Junior 8+ event, topping a competitive field of 28 boats. In the Women’s Junior 8+ event at the same regatta, New Trier placed second in a field of 22. A bronze medal finish in the Women’s Junior 4+ was also earned on a day that started out clear, but became stormy that afternoon forcing some races to be cancelled.

The incredible depth of the Men’s and Women’s’ team was very clearly exhibited the very next weekend at the Tough Cup, a regatta sponsored by the Chicago Training Center which takes place along an industrial stretch of the Chicago River. At four miles in length, the especially long course featured a fantastic day of racing for all New Trier crews who swept the medals in every event in which they entered.

Several weeks later, at the Head of the Rock regatta, in Rockford, New Trier’s talent was once again demonstrated with the team picking up a total of 10 medals including 4 golds, 2 silvers and another 4 bronze medals. Notable finishes included gold medal winning performances by the Women’s Junior Novice 8+, the Men’s Lightweight 8+, the Women’s Open Lightweight 4+ and Women’s Lightweight 8+ boats. Rowing Program Director Rose Marchuk was pleased with the depth of talent exhibited by almost 140 Trevians competing at the regatta stating, “New Trier’s crews know how to compete both against other crews and each other”. Novice Girls Coach, Hope Poor got more specific by highlighting the upsets that can occur in the fall when so much learning takes place. She stated, “In both the Novice 4+ and the Novice 8+, the B boat beat the A boat pretty significantly. It just goes to show that technique can change so much during the novice fall and erg scores don’t always reflect how girls move the boats.”

The season culminated on the weekend of October 18 -19, when the team split and participated in two events in different locations. On a cold, windy day, with morning rain, most of the team raced in tough conditions at the 1st Annual ROWtoberfest. Hosted by the Chicago Rowing Foundation, the race was held north of downtown Chicago along a 4k stretch of the Chicago River from the Cortland Bridge to the WMS Boathouse at Clark Park, a boathouse that was recently constructed as part of a greater plan to transform the long-polluted and neglected Chicago River into Chicago’s “next recreational frontier.” Even with their top two boats in Boston racing at the famed Head of the Charles regatta, the depth of New trier’s team was showcased. The Men’s and Women’s Novice 8+ A boats both captured gold medals while the Women’s Novice 8+ B boat and the Men’s Junior 8+ B boat walked off with silvers. The Men’s Junior Novice 8+ A boat also won a bronze medal, bringing the total number of medals earned by New Trier to five.

New Trier’s coaching staff was full of praise for their team’s performances. Reflecting on the girl’s overall performance, Coach Jamie Fargo noted, “This was a solid race for the girls. They will fully use all of this experience in their next home river encounter with their Chicago rivals.” Coach Michael Wyman noted, “The boys all did well and were enthusiastic about their races and participation in the event. ROWtoberfest was a great way to end to fall season and send off six rowers and one coxswain up to the JV ranks in the spring.” Remarked Coach Matt Clark when analyzing race results, “We continued to show how truly deep our program is with what is our true 3rd and 4th eights finishing within a minute of the winning crew. “

The very next day, one Men’s and one Women’s boat represented New Trier at the 50th Annual Head of the Charles Regatta in Boston. Some 9,000 athletes from all around the world compete in this two-day event that attracts upwards of 400,000 spectators during the race weekend. On a windy and brisk Sunday along the Charles River, New Trier’s Mens and Womens Youth Eights competed in a head race, alongside some 85 competitors. “Head” races are generally three miles in length and the boats compete against one another and the clock, which starts sequentially, approximately ten seconds apart.

The Men’s Youth Eight, who placed 17th last year in the same event, raced an “exceptional race for the 50th Head of the Charles Regatta,” declared Coach Nate Kelp-Lenane, and bettered their finish to 13th place (out of 85 boats), an impressive accomplishment for New Trier. “This crew of seven seniors and two sophomores put out a great rowing performance with a top notch course to post a time within 3.83% of the winning crew from Oakland Strokes. This is the closest New Trier has ever been to the winning crew at the Charles. Coxswain, Senior John Carberry, had put out one of the greatest courses at the Charles that I have seen. He made great decisions on the hardest turns in rowing. They made such great gains throughout the season and they worked hard to make this crew go fast.”

In gusty winds, New Trier’s Womens Youth Eight raced later on in the day as bow #12 based on their prior year finish. They held 27th from a field of 85 and although they didn’t pass any crews, they weren’t passed either. Women’s Head Coach Rose Marchuk stated, “competition is always very tight and there are lots of variables that need to come together to make a great race. Although wind and water conditions are never the same, it is interesting to note that crew speeds have been trending faster for both boys and girls. In 2012 the girls placed 10th and although we were only 5 seconds slower this year, it was only fast enough to place 27th. From 2012 to 2014 the winning time for youth girls 8’s dropped by almost 35 seconds.” The performances of the boys and girls guarantee them an automatic entry back next year.

If this Fall season is any indication of what the future holds, New Trier is poised for great success this upcoming Spring championship sprinting season. “The entire crew of New Trier rowers is very deep and motivated to work hard,” Coach Nate Kelp-Lenane indicated. “You can expect to see lots of great races this spring from both the boys and girls.”

Representing New Trier at the 50th Annual Head of the Charles regatta were:

Youth Men’s Eights:

13th Place (out of 85) 16:14.63, 3.83% out of 1st place

c John Carberry

8 John Dolan

7 Hunter Johnson

6 John Wiegand

5 Quin Behles

4 Ray Weeks

3 Tom Lanphier

2 Brendan Gridley

1 Josh Kuppersmith

Spares:

Andrew Chiao

Rourke Pattullo

Youth Women’s Eights:

27th Place (out of 85) 18:49.77, 9.52% out of 1st place

c Talia LaSchiazza

8 Katie Schretter

7 Carly Schmeissing

6 Grace Gagliardi

5 Lauren Johnson

4 Grace Joyce

3 Heidi Conaghan

2 Menley Denham

1 Isabelle Daellenbach

Spares:

Bella Miller

Katharine Phillips

New Trier team member Julia Bergquist also travelled with the team to Boston to cox the Women’s Senior Master 4+.