The state public school championship rowing races were held on the Merrimack River in Lowell last Sunday, May 25, with the Bromfield-Acton-Boxborough (BAB) rowers performing very well in their final event of the spring season, bringing home six team gold medals, two silvers, and three bronzes out of 14 events entered.
“It was an outstanding day for the team. I am so proud of the fact that our rowers have the versatility to be able to jump into sculling boats and dominate the field. This is something you don’t see with most high school teams,” said Head Coach Holly Hatton, who also coaches the girls’ varsity team.
Unlike typical regattas, at the state championships rowers may enter only a limited number of events. This allows the regatta to be completed in a single day.
Six boats per final
In a final race a maximum of six boats are entered, and the winners are determined by their order across the finish line, not their time. This head-to-head competition eliminates variables such as current, wind, or choppiness that can affect race times over the course of a day.
So with only six entrants, the boys’ first varsity four (B4x) raced in a final event at 8 a.m., placing second with a time of 4:58.7, less than a second behind Row Boston and 10 seconds ahead of the third-place team. The boat’s silver medalists were A.J. Higgins, Andrew Borghesani, Justin Hayes, and Kyle Hayes.
That wonderful start heralded the rest of the day for the team. Most of the larger events had heats in the morning and finals in the afternoon.
In the fifth event of the morning, another final for the boys’ scullers, the BAB boys’ varsity two won, with a time of 5:14.75, two seconds ahead of second-place Mystic Valley, a charter-school crew team from Malden. Gold medalists for Bromfield were Jake Turchetta and Luca Basile.
Scullers claim six medals
Bromfield then won a blowout race in the sixth event, the girls’ varsity two sculling finals, with Kirsten Thiim and Panna Rasania winning gold over Row Boston by over 20 seconds, with a winning time of 6:01.44.
The seventh event, another sculling final, was also won by BAB. Charles Watt, the single sculler, won in 5:34, another 20-second victory, this time over a racer from the Arlington-Belmont team.
Event eight was the single-rower girls’ sculling final, with Bromfield rowers Molly Hart and Sylvia Sarnik placing first and third, respectively.
All sculling events were finished by 9 a.m., with BAB collecting four golds, one silver, and one bronze, out of seven races entered. For scoring the highest number of points in sculling events, Bromfield-Acton-Boxborough was awarded the team sculling trophy.
“Considering how little sculling we did this year, I’m thrilled with their racing. They love the chance to go race the small boats. They get very competitive about it in practice. For us to win the state sculling trophy despite a lack of practice shows just how competitive they can be,” said boys’ varsity coach Pat Scott.
After a brief break, the coxswained races began with preliminary heats. Crews competed in the morning to qualify for the finals that afternoon. These were all “sweep” races with each rower pulling on a single oar.
Novice rowers dominate
The heats to determine the finalists were held from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., and then the larger boats competed to determine the state champions.
The girls’ first varsity and second varsity eights had very strong performances in the morning, winning their heats. Coach Hatton was particularly pleased to see how much they had improved in the past few weeks. “They had really come together as crews. One of my top goals for each rower/coxswain is to be highly skilled in the rowing stroke. I believe if you learn to row well, you can row anywhere, with any crew,” she said.
The first race in the afternoon finals that included a Bromfield team was the girls’ second novice eight, which became another golden victory for the eight novice girl rowers in the second-tier boats, who won with a time of 5:32.05 with open water, beating a Wayland-Weston boat by seven seconds. The second novice eight state champions are cox Samantha Lee and rowers Kati Nugent, Tess Fairchild, Izze Ambrosoli, Becky Nitschelm, Alexi Li, Courtney Robb, Alexis Smith, and Anne Wesley.
The girls’ first novice eight would not let their teammates bask in glory alone, as they also dominated their final race, winning with a time of 5:17.03, again with open water on the competition for a six-second victory over second-placed Arlington-Belmont. The BAB top novice crew was coxed by Grace Heavey with rowers Kamryn Stecyk, Amanda Accorsi, Caroline Noyes, Jordan Werst, Coco DeFrancesco, Claudia Weaver, Olivia Hemond, and Rachel Foote.
All 16 novice girl rowers took home gold medals for BAB. “The greatest treat of the day for me was to see the girls’ novice crews dominate their respective events. I was giddy thinking about the impact they will make on next year’s varsity,” said coach Hatton. Coaches Julie Nocka and Nancy Young lead the novice girls’ squad.
Event 15 was the final of the boys’ novice four, which came in third in the finals, seven seconds off the pace. Coach Pete Petersen leads the boys’ novice rowers.
Bromfield had no more entries until Event 23, the boys’ second varsity eight, which was delayed about two hours because of thunderstorms appearing near the starting line at about 4 p.m., with the boys’ boat coming in sixth in the finals.
The girls’ second varsity eight also finished just outside the money, finishing fourth in the finals.
Approaching storm halts final race
The marquee events of the day were saved for last. Because of a thunderstorm delay, all of the consolation (petite) finals were cancelled
In Event 27, the boys’ first varsity eight did very well, coming in third in the state with a time of 4:26.3, four seconds behind the winning boat from Brookline. Bronze medalists were coxswain Anya Plucinsky and rowers A.J. Higgins, Kyle Hayes, Andrew Borghesani, Charles Watt, Luca Basile, Cole Winsor, Justin Hayes, and Liam Mackin.
“With this being my last trip to States with the team, I really wanted to send the guys home with some hardware. Considering how hard they work for me, I owed it to them to make sure the training would put them on the medals podium. I wish I could have done more for the second and third varsity guys, but they were happy with their racing, and that’s all that matters,” said Coach Scott.
The final event for the Bromfield crew would have been the girls’ first varsity eight, but the race was cancelled because of weather. Instead, times in the heats were used to determine the winners, a decision that earned BAB the silver medal, just one second off the winning time by Wayland-Weston.
“It was a bit disappointing that the girls’ first varsity eight didn’t have a chance to go head-to-head with their arch rivals Wayland-Weston in the finals. This race was canceled due to an approaching thunderstorm,” said Coach Hatton.
Next up: First ergathon
As one of the region’s smaller clubs, Bromfield rowing does not have enough competitors to compete in every race, but ended up with a very successful finish for its spring season. BAB rowers individually earned 22 gold medals, 12 silvers, and 13 bronze medals.
Next weekend, the team will host a fundraiser on the Harvard Common, its first annual ergathon. For more information or to support the team, visit www.BareHillRowing.com/ergathon.
Eleven Bromfield-Acton-Bromfield rowers qualify for nationals in June in California. From left: Meghan Glade, Sylvia Sarnik, Courtney Oka, Anna Dawley, Amanda Sundheimer, Molly Hart, Charles Watt, A.J. Higgins, Kyle Hayes, Anya Plucinsky, and Liam Mackin. (Courtesy photo)
