Neighbor News
Bromfield-AB Rowing Races to Wins in first Regatta of the Fall Season
Bromfield-AB Rowing Club competes in first meet of the season in Lawrence.
The Bromfield-Acton-Boxborough (BAB) rowing team had an impressive first meet last Sunday on the Merrimac River in Lawrence, taking on Greater Lawrence Rowing and Westford-Littleton Community Crew in the first regatta of the year. They notched five first-place and four second-place finishes out of nine events.
The beautiful weather had a large turnout of parents and fans enjoying the race at the Riverfront State Park in Lawrence. Unlike the Spring races which tend to be shorter, the Fall races are often three miles in length, with participants slowly rowing to the starting line, and then racing back to the finish in about 20 minutes. For this regatta, the starting line was actually in Methuen, the next city upriver from Lawrence.
And unlike Spring competitions, this one was a timed event rather than rowing head-to-head. Entries were spaced about 15 to 30 seconds apart, so while the winner did not necessarily cross the finish line first, there were several opportunities to pass other rowers during the races.
There were both varsity and experienced novice racing categories, with 36 entries for the three clubs. The BAB crew is comprised of students in the 8th through 12th grade at Harvard’s Bromfield School and the Acton-Boxborough Regional Schools.
Bromfield’s first entry was the Boys Novice 8+ “A,” which came in second with a time of 18:22, just six seconds behind Westford-Littleton’s “A” crew. Boys Novice Coach Conor Finnegan said, “I thought the guys had a great first race. It was a close second place in our squad’s events. Chris Arsenault, a new walk on to the team, helped out the team by subbing in at the last second and really helped out the boat this past weekend.”
The Girls Varsity 4+ then notched the first win of the day, placing first and second in the five-boat race, 90 seconds faster than the third-place finisher from Greater Lawrence “B.” Varsity “A” was comprised of Emily Erdos (cox), Meghan Glade, Kamryn Stecyk, Panna Rasania, and Molly Hart, while Varsity “B” was Katie Erdos (cox), Annie Cooper, Allison Goldsher, Kirsten Thiim, and Courtney Oka.
Girls Varsity Coach Holly Hatton said, “It was great to start the season off with such strong results. With each of the varsity girls crews winning their respective event. I was most pleased at how well our ‘B’ and ‘C’ boats did. The ‘B’ 4+ and 8+ came in 2nd, out -distancing the ‘A’ boats of the other teams and our ‘C’ 8+ with a totally untested lineup finished a head of the other ‘C’ boat. This shows our depth and bodes well for the development of the team over the fall and in to next spring season.”
The Boys Varsity 8+ “A” just nosed out Westford-Littleton by 0.1 seconds for first place in their event, with a winning time of 16:36.0. Boys Varsity “B” boat came in fourth, just 0.4 seconds behind Greater Lawrence’s third-place finish in the six-boat field. Winners in the A” boat were Kyle Veo (cox), James O’Shea, Mark Borghesani, Oliver Perrine, Ed Dunn, Liam Mackin, Justin Hayes, Cole Winsor, and Luca Basile.
BAB Boys Varsity Coach Brian DeDominici said, “The Varsity Boys all had great races and set a excellent standard to build from as the season progresses. I’m very happy with all the hard work and adaptability I have seen from the team and it paid off well this weekend.”
The Girls Novice 8+ won with a time of 21:27.2. For many rowers, this was their first race. Girls Novice Coach Julie Nocka said, “The Novice Girls 8 had an excellent first outing, working together stroke by stroke and dominating the boats from Greater Lowell and Westford-Littleton by over a minute. The team looks forward to racing two eights next weekend in Lowell.” Rowers on the winning boat were Camryn Farren (cox), Chloe Alfieri, Fiona Carrez, Angela Hu, Sierra Gomez, Courtney Robb, Valentine Bulpin, Alissa Kong, and Rebecca Nitschelm.
The Boys Novice 4+ came in second, and the Boys Varsity 4+ won their event shortly thereafter. Varsity Boys winners were Grace Heavey (cox), Liam Mackin, Ed Dunn, Cole Winsor, and Justin Hayes.
The last race of the day was the Girls Varsity 8+, which also had the largest field with seven boats competing. Bromfield-AB placed first and second, with times of 18:01.9 and 18:16.2 respectively. The winning boat was comprised of Emily Erdos (cox), Annie Cooper, Allison Goldsher, Kirsten Thiim, Kamryn Stecyk, Panna Rasania, Molly Hart, Meghan Glade, and Courtney Oka.
The team will compete next Sunday, October 5, at the Textile Regatta in Lowell. This regatta will feature 6k races and is expected to draw a large number of competitors as it is just a few weeks before the Head of the Charles regatta in Cambridge.
For more information about Bare Hill Rowing Association, sponsor of the Bromfield-Acton-Boxborough Rowing team, see their website at BareHillRowing.com.