The Bromfield Acton-Boxborough rowers competed in Saratoga Springs, New York, last weekend in the season’s final regatta. The Head of the Fish Regatta is a large regional event with more than 2,100 entries this year, and it is held on Fish Creek in upstate New York.
Holly Hatton, BA-B’s girls varsity coach, looks forward to this event each year. “The competition level is extremely high at this season-ending regatta,” she said. “As a public high school program, I’m really proud of what we are able to accomplish with our athletes. Each athlete entered at least two races, and many added a sculling event as well.”
Kamryn Stecyk and Kirsten Thiim. (Courtesy photo)
On Saturday morning, the girls double scullers beat a field of six entries in the women’s open pairs event, taking the gold medal against some college teams and beating local rival Community Rowing of Boston by three seconds. Rowers were Kamryn Stecyk and Kirsten Thiim.
The boys single scullers had their turn next, with four boys entering the junior under-19 event and doing well in the 43-boat field. BA-B rowers Luca Basile and Justin Hayes finished ninth and 10th, only a second apart, with Oliver Perrine at 13th and Garrett White 21st. Basile’s time was 13:19.
In the boys junior under-17 event, Bromfield entered four boats, with Jack Walsh coming in seventh, Brian Fay 23rd, Jack Gardiner 24th, and Mitch Densen 31st in the 39-boat field. Walsh finished in 13:28.
The girls entered a sculler in the girls junior under-17 race. Ally Goldsher placed 13th in a time of 15:03 out of 32 boats entered.
Most Sunday races were for larger, coxed crews. Bromfield’s first entry was in the boys junior lightweight 8+ division, with BA-B coming in sixth in a time of 12:46. The crew was coxed by Nilay Maity and rowers were Connor Reitler, Chris Arsenault, Ankit Datta, Dan Shrives, Teague Neschke, Eric Xing, Aiden Clarage, and Jack Klem.
The girls first varsity 8+ placed eighth in a large field of 41 boats, with a time of 12:34, about 40 seconds off the fastest pace. Rowers were Kamryn Stecyk, Kirsten Thiim, Grace Ott, Ally Goldsher, Maeve French, Lindsey Hayes, Emma Stoffel, and Courtney Robb, with coxswain Katie Erdos.
The girls second varsity 8+ placed seventh out of 29 boats, with a time of 13:20. Rowers were Valentine Bulpin, Alissa Kong, Erin Smith, Ariella Bull, Fiona Carrez, Angela Hu, Sierra Gomez, and Taylor Tracey, with cox Sarah Bradley.
The girls third varsity 8+ finished fourth out of 16 boats with a time of 13:38. The boat was coxed by Cammy Farren and rowers were Aly Veo, Rachel Foote, Caroline Noyes, Molly Bowers, Becky Nitschelm, Becca Lloyd, Olivia Hemond, and Hannah Forgo.
The boys raced two crews in the junior double race and placed fifth with a time of 12:42 and 19th with a time of 13:39. There were 37 entries in this race. Rowers were Cole Winsor and Jack Walsh in the “A” boat and Brian Fay and James O’Shea in the “B” boat.
The boys first varsity 4+ took the silver out of 56 crews, with a time of 11:42, just two seconds behind CRI. Rowers were Luca Basile, Oliver Perrine, Jack Gardiner, and Justin Hayes, with cox Grace Heavey.
The boys second varsity 4+ placed ninth in a time of 12:59, about 25 seconds off the fastest pace in the event. The boat was coxed by Josh Canning and rowers were Kyle Veo, Kyle Into, Will Thompson, and Mitch Densen.
Lightweights, quads, doubles
The boys also entered the junior lightweight 4+ and placed sixth out of 24 crews. Rowers were Mark Borghesani, Josh Hollenberg, Andrew Huang, and Garrett White, with cox Austin Rotker. Their time was also 12:59, which was 25 seconds off the gold-medal pace.
The girls entered the junior quad (4x-) race and finished 18th out of 25 entrants. Rowers were Caroline Noyes, Valentine Bulpin, Ariella Bull, and Erin Smith. A quad is a shell with four rowers, each with two oars. A 4x- is coxless.
The boys junior first varsity 8+ raced to a seventh-place finish out of 49 boats with a time of 11:16, just 11 seconds slower than the fastest crew. The boat was coxed by Grace Heavey and rowers were Luca Basile, Cole Winsor, Justin Hayes, Oliver Perrine, Brian Fay, Jack Gardiner, James O’Shea, and Jack Walsh.
The boys second varsity 8+ finished 12th with a time of 12:18. Rowers were Kyle Veo, Josh Hollenberg, Will Thompson, Kyle Into, Mark Borghesani, Garrett White, Andrew Huang, and Mitch Densen, with cox Austin Rotker.
The boys third varsity 8+ placed seventh out of 22 boats with a time of 12:51. The boat was coxed by Josh Canning and rowers were Connor Reitler, David Shlimak, Ankit Datta, Mark Castaneda, Matt Adams, Dan Shrives, Alex Weaver, and Chris Arsenault.
The boys fourth varsity 8+ finished sixth in a time of 13:11. Rowers were Jon McWhite, Alex Ewing, Luka Ilic, Teague Neschke, Eric Xing, Jack Klem, Aiden Clarage, and Maxfield Mascaran, with cox Nilay Maity.
The girls junior double placed ninth out of 35 entries in a time of 15:22. Rowers were Maeve French and Lindsey Hayes.
The girls junior lightweight double finished 21st. Rowers were Alissa Kong and Hannah Forgo.
The girls first varsity 4+ finished ninth out of 54 boats with a time of 13:50, 35 seconds off the gold-medal pace. Rowers were Kamryn Stecyk, Kirsten Thiim, Grace Ott, and Ally Goldsher, with cox Katie Erdos.
The second varsity 4+ had two BA-B crews competing, with the “A” crew finishing in 15:28 for 19th place and the “B” crew finishing in 15:36 for 23rd place. Rowers in the “A” crew were Emma Stoffel, Rachel Foote, Becky Nitschelm, and Becca Lloyd, with cox Sarah Bradley, and the “B” crew was coxed by Amy Zhu with rowers Fiona Carrez, Angela Hu, Sierra Gomez, and Taylor Tracey.
The girls lightweight 4+ came in third out of 13 entries in a time of 14:20. Rowers were Aly Veo, Molly Bowers, Olivia Hemond, and Courtney Robb, with cox Cammy Farren.
Coaches pleased
“I thought all crews rowed really well technically, and we have a great base to work from for the coming spring,” said Coach Hatton.
In the final event of the season for Bromfield, the boys first varsity quad came in eighth out of 29 boats in a time of 11:13. Rowers were Luca Basile, Oliver Perrine, Jack Gardiner, and Justin Hayes.
Brian DeDominici, the boys head coach, said, “The boys had a great weekend with lots of racing and improved boat speed from everyone. We gained time on teams that we raced last weekend and had a much higher average finish as a whole. I was very happy with how all the crews performed, especially with many of the athletes racing two, three, and even four times over the course of the two days.”
Girls first varsity 8+, from left: Courtney Robb, Emma Stoffel, Lindsey Hayes, Maeve French, Ally Goldsher, Grace Ott, Kirsten Thiim, and Kamryn Stecyk, with cox Katie Erdos. (Courtesy photo)
This report is an edited version of a press release provided by the Bromfield Acton-Boxboro rowing team. Allen Nitshelm is a parent member of the organization.
