Bromfield Acton-Boxborough crews raced in Lowell while the lightweight girls scrimmaged in Cambridge on Saturday, May 13. High winds and rain forecasted for Sunday caused race organizers to cancel the second day of the Amber Zapatka Memorial Regatta hosted by the Lowell Regatta Rowing Association on the Merrimack River. On Saturday BA-B boats finished second in two races and third in two more.
The time-trial format used on Saturday in Lowell—racing against the clock instead of another boat—was new for this race, but it’s being used more frequently in other regattas in the preliminary round to eliminate the need for seeding. “It is harder to compete and push yourself when the boats are not racing side by side,” explained novice girls Coach Julie Nocka. Program director and head varsity girls Coach Holly Hatton added, “Just getting used to this format takes some practice. I thought both 4s did a nice job in their first time trial.”
The girls first varsity 4+ had a strong race but may have lost a few places at the very end when the sprint was not cleanly executed.
After winning the previous weekend in the third varsity 4+ event at Wayland-Weston, the lineup of Emma Stoffel, Becky Nitschelm, Alice Pope, and Ella Bull continued to show their speed, now racing in the second varsity 4+ event. They were joined by Rachel Shrives driving the boat. Due to illness and girls out of town, this weekend’s third varsity 4+ scratched at the last minute.
Hatton gave Sierra Gomez a shoutout for jumping into a scull and racing her first solo time trial: “She had done summer rowing, so racing the 1x was not foreign to her, but still, she only had a few practices to get acclimated.”
The varsity boys raced well in untested lineups, said head varsity boys Coach Brian DeDominici. “Each boat had some kind of change, and a few entries had to be scratched, but that didn’t stop the second 8 from placing an impressive eighth place in the first 8 category. We made the most of a tough situation, and everyone was able to put in a competitive and productive race,” he said.
The girls novice 8+ advanced to the grand final heat for Sunday’s races, which unfortunately were canceled due to weather.
Said novice boys Coach Conor Finnegan, “We had a great weekend of racing in Lowell. I think all of the boats came to the race prepared for the competition, and all three crews rowed their best races of the season.”
Since there was no lightweight 8 event at the Zapatka, the girls varsity lightweight crew headed over to Cambridge to scrimmage rival Community Rowing on the Charles in preparation for the USRowing regional qualifiers next week. “The racing was intense, with the teams trading first place back and forth, so it was a great learning exercise for the crew and coach,” Hatton said.
Race Results
Girls first varsity 4+, 11th, 7:33.833. Rowers Kat Fay, Caroline Noyes, Grace White, Valentine Bulpin, and coxswain Amy Zhu.- Girls second varsity 4+, 4th, 7:46.939. Rowers Ella Bull, Alice Pope, Becky Nitschelm, Emma Stoffel, and coxswain Rachel Shrives.
Girls varsity 1x, 9th, 9:32.000. Rower Sierra Gomez.
Boys first varsity 2–, 2nd, 7:19.940. Rowers Joshua Hollenberg and Alexander Ewing.
Boys second varsity 2–, 3rd, 7:33.930. Rowers Brian Fay and Matt Adams.
Boys first varsity 4+, 14th, 7:12.176. Rowers Liam Makosky, Nikhil Kommineni, Kevin Yu, Patrick Stoffel, and coxswain Vito Montesa.
Boys second varsity 4+, 14th, 7:34.168. Rowers John Hart, Jon McWhite, Maxfield Mascarin, Alexander Weaver, and coxswain Anne Wesley.
Boys first varsity 8+, 8th place, 6:46.202. Rowers Kevin Yu, Alexander Weaver, Spencer Tingle, Jason Lancellotti, Brian Fay, Matt Adams, Kyle Into, Connor Reitler, and coxswain Joshua Canning.
Boys second varsity 8+, 3rd, 6:49.608. Rowers Stefan Scornavacca, Charlie Carbonell, John Hawes, Zack Myers, Cameron McGurk, Sam Jackson, Christopher Clark, and coxswain Ben Boucher.
Girls novice 4+, 4th, 8:31.291. Rowers Emma Perkins, Sophia Defoe, Song Issah, Molly O’Neill, and coxswain Sila Inanoglu.
Girls novice 8+, 6th, 7:50.837. Rowers Sophie Bodager, Sophia Defoe, Hayley Minar, Stephanie Gardner, Shannon Gregg, Lauren Bonica, Polina Bolberov, Emma Perkins, and coxswain Saskia Campbell.
Boys first novice 4+, 8th, 7:45.607. Rowers Phillip Bogaevsky, Ollie Smalanskas, Gabe Carlesimo, Ben Boucher, and coxswain Nick Todd.
Boys freshmen 4+, 2nd, 7:26.510. Rowers Charlie Carbonell, Ryan Camposano, Max Ewing, Christopher Clark, and coxswain Saskia Campbell.
Jill Maxwell of Acton is a freelance writer and parent of a B-AB rower.
