New Trier Rowing Teams Sweep Midwest Championships

Photo credit: Josh Dreyfus

Photo caption: New Trier Varsity rowers

New Trier rowing teams swept the Midwest Rowing Championships at Lake Dillon, Ohio, near Columbus, the weekend of May 9-10. With hot weather, sunny skies and almost no wind, the regatta drew hundreds of spectators. Dozens of teams from all over the Midwest, including Wisconsin, Ohio, Illinois and Michigan, competed.

Of the 18 boats New Trier entered in the competition, 15 were medalists, with six crews placing 1st, five placing 2nd, and four placing 3rd.

New Trier was able to qualify five 8+’s of boys and five 8+’s and one 4+ of girls’ boats for Scholastic Rowing Nationals held in Camden, New Jersey, which took place May 22nd-23rd.

New Trier teams finished as follows:

1st place, 6 crews

Girls Freshmen 8+

Boys Freshmen 8+

Girls 2nd Varsity 8+

Girls Varsity Lightweight 8+

Boys Varsity Lightweight 8+

Girls Varsity 8+

2nd place, 5 crews

Girls Novice 8+

Girls Novice Lightweight 4+

Boys Novice Lightweight 4+

Girls 3rd Varsity 8+

Boys 2nd Varsity 8+

3rd place, 4 crews

Girls Varsity 4+

Girls Junior 8+

Boys Junior 8+

Boys Varsity 8+

4th place, 1 crew

Boys Novice 8+

SCHOLASTIC NATIONALS QUALIFIERS

11 crews qualified to represent New Trier at the Scholastic Rowing Association national competition in Camden, New Jersey this year:

Boys Freshmen 8+

Girls Freshmen 8+

Girls Varsity 4+

Boys 2nd Varsity 8+

Girls 2nd Varsity 8+

Girls Lightweight Varsity 8+

Boys Lightweight Varsity 8+

Boys Junior 8+

Girls Junior 8+

Boys Varsity 8+

Girls Varsity 8+

Three winning varsity crews qualified to race at Youth Nationals in Sarasota, Florida from June 12th- 14th: the Girls Varsity 8+, Girls Lightweight Varsity 8+ and Boys Lightweight Varsity 8+.

Senior, Girls Varsity team captain and stroke Menley Denham said “Our boat this year is filled with so many young people, and they bring this great energy and winning mentality to every race. I don’t think I have ever been a part of a boat that has wanted to win this badly.”

Senior, team captain and coxswain, Talia LaSchiazza, added, “As a boat, we had very exciting races at Midwest. Coming out of time trials we were number one, which was a great feeling going into semis and finals. We were committed to pushing ourselves even further every race, which we showed in the final by winning with open water.”

Coach Rose Marchuk said, “This is the first year every varsity girls’ boat entered has qualified for nationals. enabling all to compete there. In addition to the Freshman Eight girls, we qualified the maximum number of boats that we could. I am very impressed with the depth of talent on the team.”

Of the boys’ performance, Coach Nate Kelp-Lenane said, “This was a great Midwest’s for the boys squad. All crews raced well in incredibly competitive fields of Varsity 8, 2nd Varsity 8, Lightweight 8, and Junior 8 to qualify for SRAA’s (the national competition). I was also happy to see the Freshman 8 win their event, and the other novices had great races in their finals.”

Coach Hope Poor, commenting on the freshman crews, said, “The freshman eight had the fastest time of both semis, although this was after one girl became sick with the stomach flu as they were locked on at the start! The final was closer, with second place Loyola giving New Trier a bit of local competition. New Trier was ahead the whole race, but opened a 6 second lead by the sprint. The girls said it was the best they had ever raced!” Coach Poor also praised the novice light four crew, who won their semi-final with the fastest time of both heats, describing them as “small but mighty!”

Coach Josip Stolar noted that the novice boys team had a very successful appearance at the regatta, where all 4 boats rowed to their best in tough competition, and accomplished excellent results. The novice squad as a whole met its seasonal competitive goals, qualifying three boats to finals, medaling in two events, and qualifying the Freshmen 8+ for Nationals. “The boys showed a high level of racing performance and mental toughness,” Stolar said.

“The Freshmen 8+ boat demonstrated a high level of performance and speed rowing with the fastest time in the semi-finals and winning the finals,” Coach Stolar said. “Additionally, they demonstrated confidence and tactical skills rowing in the finals in second place behind Central Catholic for the first half of the race. At the 750 meter mark, they made their move and took the lead and controlled the rest of the race.”

Coach Sandy Culver said, “The Girls Lightweight 8+ raced in a six-boat final only event, which is tough to gauge the competition without heats or semis to size up the field. We were happy to see a full field of light 8s this year at Midwest’s, as this has not been the case in past years. The NT girls won by open water and had they entered the V8 category, would have been second to the NT V8.”

The Midwest Rowing Championships was a big team win with overall points for the 9th consecutive year.

The rowers participating were as follows:

Girls Varsity Eight, 1st place, 5:15.60

c Talia LaSchiazza

8 Menley Denham

7 Carolyne Newman

6 Katie Schretter

5 Lauren Johnson

4 Bella Miller

3 Mata Stilp

2 Maddie Cottingham

1 Katherine Phillips

Girls 2nd Varsity Eight, 1st place, 5:18.01

c Julia Bergquist

8 Hanna Skinner

7 Emily MacAdam

6 Jacqui Gossard

5 Lulu Eshuis

4 Grace Gagliardi

3 Kelly Keenan

2 Nicki Bukovac

1 Isabelle Daellenbach

Girls Varsity V4+, 3rd place, 5:47.79

c: Georgia Caras

4 Catherine Woodburn

3 Neeka Haack

2 Casey Figueredo

1 Isabelle Daellenbach

Boys V8 - 3rd Place Time: 4:48.02

C John Carberry

8 Quin Behles

7 Hunter Johnson

6 John Dolan

5 Rourke Pattullo

4 John Wiegand

3 Spencer James

2 Brendan Gridley

1 Josh Kuppersmith

Boys 2V8 - 2nd Place Time: 4:43.4

C Zack Vlahandreas

8 Donald Conkey

7 Tom Lanphier

6 Paul Dustman

5 David Theiss

4 Ray Weeks

3 Andrew Chiao

2 Jose Rodriguez

1 Stefan Pavlovski

Girls Junior 8+, 3rd place, 5:28.70

c: Chloe Jacobs

8 Emma Lipinksi

7 Carly Schmeissing

6 Stephanie Song

5 Cameron Coughlin

4 Melanie Mandell

3 Emma Alter

2 Reilly Kyle

1 Grace Cucco

Boys Junior 8+, 3rd place, 4:40.17

C Hunter Hall

8 Paul Sagraves

7 Griffin Dunne

6 Brendan Gloyd

5 Ian Fargo

4 Peter Figura

3 Ethan Wilensky

2 Daniel Pickard

1 Daniel Aiken

Girls Novice 8, 2nd place, 5.38.7

C Gabby Capra

8 Reilly Kyle

7 Jill Lerner

6 Colleen Angarone

5 Maisie Reardon

4 Jill Economos

3 Valentina Fernandez

2 Carynn Randolph

B May Paddor

Boys Lightweight 8+, 1st place, 4:46.44

C: Tommy Brittingham

8: Myles Knight

7: Harris Lerner

6: David Tigerman

5: Daniel Dreyfus

4: John Marren

3: Jamie Ratty

2: Simon Cormac

1: Makhoul Cassis

Boys Lightweight Novice 4+, 2nd place, 5:33.9

c Duncan Healey

4 Matt Meyer

3 Mick Flannery

2 Ben Kolot

1 Marcus Chong

Girls Novice Lightweight 4, 2nd 6.13.2

C Megan DeJoya

4 Abby Schinderle

3 Jill Lerner

2 Hailey Shevitz

B Olivia Lantry

Girls Freshmen 8, 1st place, 5.19.8

C Nicole Pofcher

8 Charlotte Melgard

7 Olivia Ingle

6 Nadia James

5 Lauren Duffy

4 Emily Lewis

3 Rachael Chiao

2 Frances Lafontant

B Josie Olson

Boys Freshmen 8+, 1st place, 4:48.5

c Duncan Healey

8 Peter Chatain

7 Aidan

6 Galen Quinn

5 Patrick Spillane

4 Lorenzo Miller

3 Graham Michelson

2 Griffin Norton

1 Gustav

o Gilchrist


Girls Lightweight 8+, 1st place, 5:21.23

c: Eden Rane

8 Grace Joyce

7 Rani Duff

6 Elise Sharkey

5 Kate Evenson

4 Libby Dickerson

3 Rachel Melancon

2 Abby Joyce

1 Annabel Weyhrich

Macpherson