New Trier Rowing Makes Quite a Splash at The Milwaukee River Challenge

MILWAUKEE, WI, September 16, 2017 - New Trier High School Rowing headed to Milwaukee with 16 crews for the 17th annual Milwaukee River Challenge. It was a beautiful fall day, and over 900 total athletes participated raced a 3-mile course that ran along the Menomonee and Milwaukee Rivers. Crews navigated 90-degree angle turns, low bridges, steel columns and “no passing zones” as they headed to the finish line at Schlitz Park.

“Head racing that we do in the fall is challenging because the course is 3 miles, and longer than the spring’s 1500-meter distance. It involves racing against the clock while crews begin at a staggered start. Tactical decisions by a coxswain are crucial when passing slower boats and positioning a crew on turns and going under bridges,” said Rose Marchuk, Director, Head Coach & Varsity Girls Coach

The first race for New Trier's girls was the Junior 4+ event. Of 20 boats entered, NT took the top two spots with times of 19:07.65 and 19:07.83 for the bow 4 and stern 4 of their Varsity 8+, respectively. Three hours later, they were back on the river all in one boat, and the girls 1st Varsity 8+ was seeded first and led off the fleet of 20 crews. “New Trier rowed a great race despite having a slight disadvantage to their victor,” said Marchuk, “this was New Trier girls 2nd race of the day about 3 hours after their 4's race.” They finished strong with a 2nd place win clocking in at 17:44:14, just 3.96 seconds behind Loyola Academy.

“They accomplished what they set out to do which was row to the best of their ability, gain conditioning and learn from their racing. Their teammates were equally impressive and looked very polished with a 3rd place finish 17:55.52, 5th place finish 18:49.08, 10th place finish 19:20.32 and for a boat of novices 11th place finish 19:36.49,” added Marchuk.

The boys’ varsity crews represented New Trier extremely well. New Trier's varsity boys finished 1st (15:25:80) and 3rd (16:23:29) in the Junior 8+ event. They continued to shine on the river, and swept the Junior 4+ event earning 1st place (17:35:84) and 2nd place (17:40:18) wins. "It was a good first regatta for the team. The Varsity 8s put out solid performances in their races. Our coxswains did an excellent job steering a difficult course with no passing zones, narrow bridges, and a hair pin turn. The Varsity was able win their event, placing two 8s in the top three and three 8s in the top ten. That is a great achievement for this race,” said Varsity Coach Nate Kelp-Lenane.

Varsity coxswain Duncan Healy said, “The Milwaukee race was a good piece for us, but we definitely have more potential to fill. Luckily, we started first so we had no worries about being stuck behind boats in the no-pass zone. Most of this race we were completely on our own, and could not see boats behind or in front of us. This is how we like to race. It keeps our minds in our boat, and we can row our own piece without the distractions of passing boats. We can improve keeping our technical focus in the last 1000 meters, but the guys are happy with how we opened this season. We're still cycling through lineups rapidly and making a lot of changes to how we row in practice, so it will not be until later this season that we begin to put together our best pieces.”

New Trier showed great performance and impressive results in Milwaukee, and their next race will be at the Head of The Rock Regatta in Rockford on Sunday, October 8th.

Photos Attached:

Women’s Jr 4+

A Entry

Time 19:07:65

First Place: Last First

C Rubinstein Alex

S Melgard Charlotte

3 Olson Josephine

2 Economos Jill

B Chiao Rachel

Men's Jr 8+

A entry

Time 15:26

First Place Last First

C Healey Duncan

S Fargo Charlie

7 Miller Lorenzo

6 Buzard Scott

5 Quinn Galen

4 Borsotti Carl

3 Skinner Peter

2 Coppieters Charles

B Flannery Mick