The Bromfield A-B boys’ 4+ wins the gold in Saratoga, New York. Rowers are Luca Basile, Charles Watt, Liam Mackin, and Justin Hayes. Coxswain is Grace Heavey. (Courtesy photo)
The Bromfield Acton-Boxborough rowers split their squad into varsity and novice teams last weekend, with the varsity rowers heading to Saratoga, New York, for the annual Head of the Fish Regatta, while the novice teams competed in the Fall High School Championship Regatta in Worcester. Both teams had great showings in their final races of the season, with varsity boats taking two gold and three bronze medals in their New York races.
“It was an outstanding ending to the fall season for both our varsity and novice squads,” said girls’ varsity Coach Holly Hatton.
The Head of the Fish Regatta, held on Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 25 and 26, featured thousands of competitors in 144 races, which included both collegiate and high school athletes. This regatta is one of the largest races in the Northeast each fall.
Two boats take gold
The varsity boys’ four (Luca Basile, Charles Watt, Liam Mackin, and Justin Hayes) and the lightweight girls’ four (Courtney Oka, Meghan Glade, Anna Dawley, and Panna Rasania) both won gold, earning the right to toss their coxswains, Grace Heavey and Emily Erdos, respectively, into Fish Creek.
The boys won their race with a time of 12 minutes 12 seconds, 16 seconds faster than the second-place boat. Almost 50 boats competed in this race.
The girls’ squad earned its gold medal with a time of 13:51, beating rival Community Rowing, Inc., (CRI) of Cambridge by four seconds out of a field of 13 competitors. Each rower in the lightweight division had a weight limit of 135 pounds.
But the first medal of the regatta for BA-B came in the girls’ 8+ race, with the Bromfield team earning a bronze medal in a time of 12:27, just 18 seconds out of first place. There were 39 total entries. Rowers were Oka, Kirsten Thiim, Dawley, Rasania, Molly Hart, Annie Cooper, Kamryn Stecyk, and Glade, with cox Erdos.
The girls’ varsity 4x final also earned a bronze medal for BA-B with a time of 12:53, 35 seconds off the gold-medal pace. Twenty-one crews competed in this event. Rowers were Hart, Stecyk, Cooper, and Grace Ott.
The final bronze medal winner of the day was the second varsity 8+, with a time of 13.00, just 20 seconds out of first place in a field of 23 boats. Rowers were Kate Nugent, Ott, Ally Goldsher, Rachel Foote, Emma Stoffel, Maeve French, Claudia Weaver, and Jordan Werst, with cox Katie Erdos.
Working ‘to bring your very best’
The boys varsity 1 8+ had a good showing, placing fourth in its race with a time of 10:57, just five seconds behind the bronze medal winner. There were 41 competitors in this event. Cox Heavey motivated rowers Basile, Cole Winsor, Hayes, Watt, Ed Dunn, Mackin, James O’Shea, and Garrett White.
“You work all season to bring your very best effort to your last race, and every athlete on our team did this on Sunday,” said Hatton. “To see the BA-B name so high up on so many results lists is always a thrill.”
Edited by John Osborn from a press release provided to local papers by the Bare Hill Rowing Association.
