Ridgewood Crew Rowers Earn Gold Medals

RIDGEWOOD, NJ — Two Ridgewood Crew boats participated in the U.S. Rowing Youth National Championship in Florida recently.

Charles Koontz competed in the men's varsity race and Sam Daspin and Spencer Campbell competed in the men's lightweight race. Both boats made their respective finals. They each finished in fourth place.

Crew boats also competed in several other regional and national races.

The team earned several medals at several of those events, including: 39 at the Garden State Championships, 22 at City Championships, nine at the Mid-Atlantic Youth Championship, four at Stotesbury Cup and six at the SRAA Nationals.

Seniors Claire Callaghan and Jordan Wittmaack won gold medals at the City Championships, Stotesbury and SRAA Nationals.

Eight athletes plan to continue rowing in college. They are:

Claire Callaghan – University of Connecticut
Jordan Wittmaack – West Virginia University
Melissa Dexter – Univerversity of Massachusetts – Amherst
Isabella DeGregorio – Boston College
Erica Lehman – Philadelphia University
Charles Koontz – Trinity College
Patrick DuBois – Saint Joseph’s University
Ian Soderlund – Marist College

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Photos: Ridgewood Crew members at the team's year-end banquet. — Courtesy of Janice Soderlund