The Bromfield Acton-Boxborough crew team opened its fall season at the 40th annual Textile River Regatta in Lowell on Sunday, Oct. 6. It was a gray and windy day, but the team battled all the way down the 4,500-meter Merrimack River course for medals of every hue.
The boys first varsity 4 edged Boston Latin for gold in an enormous field of 48 entrants. The boys second and third varsity 8s sandwiched rival Wayland-Weston for gold and bronze in their event. The girls grabbed gold in the single, silver in the lightweight double, and bronze among 41 boats in the 4.
The boys first varsity 4. From left: Christopher Clark, Stefan Scornavacca, Maxwell Ewing, William Bardenheuer, and coxswain Arjun Khurana sewed up a gold medal at the 40th annual Textile River Regatta in Lowell on Oct. 6. (Courtesy photo by S. Clark)
Boys varsity Coach Brian DeDominici said his team was off to a great start. “I’m very happy with both the results and the strong team dynamic that we are building this season,” he said. “We did very well with a young group and I am looking forward to seeing where we can go from here.” The boys second varsity 4 incurred a 20-second penalty when the coxswain steered out of the course lane to avoid a sudden swerve from a boat they were passing; they still managed to beat more than two dozen other crews.
Holly Hatton, the program director and coach of the varsity girls, felt the team’s performance was solid for what was a rocky road to race day. Illness, holidays, and college visits for seniors made it difficult for the full team to practice. “As a coach, I believe it’s important to support the seniors, to allow them to take time away to make those crucial campus visits,” she said. “The race results were a good start based on how little time we had together. I hope we can improve with more consistent lineups in the next few weeks in preparation for Head of the Charles and Head of the Fish”—two big events in Cambridge and in Saratoga Springs, New York later this month.
Hatton added, “One of our strong themes this year is team unity, and I feel the girls have really stepped up to not only support each other, but to reach out to the novices and the boys team to work together toward their common goals of creating fast boats.” The varsity girls gave the novice team a trailer-loading demonstration and took shifts helping to launch novice boats at the regatta; veteran coxswains helped the newer ones prep for the race.
The Textile River Regatta included crews from 77 high school, collegiate, and club teams from every New England state except Vermont—plus a few from New York, Pennsylvania, and Sydney, Australia. BA-B alumna Stephanie Gardner finished fifth in the UMass Lowell second varsity 4.
As is typical for fall racing, the crews rowed head-style; the boats set off at 10-second intervals and won medals based on times, as opposed to the spring season style, in which boats line up across the water in lanes.
Next, BA-B takes on local crews at the 10th Annual New England Junior & High School Regional Championship Regatta on Worcester’s Lake Quinsigamond on Sunday, Oct. 13.
Textile River Regatta Results
Varsity boys
- Mens junior 4+: Christopher Clark, Stefan Scornavacca, Maxwell Ewing, William Bardenheuer, and coxswain Arjun Khurana, 1st, 16:42.868; Sam Jackson, Thomas Keefe, Alex McCormick, Matthew Atwell, and coxswain Anjali Vittal, 16th, 18:01.240; Clark Hanlon, Ryan Camposano, Ryan Crowley, Brian Borghesani, and coxswain Jackie Walker, 20th, 18:20.594.
- Mens junior 8+, A: Christopher Clark, Stefan Scornavacca, Maxwell Ewing, William Bardenheuer, John Babcock, Thomas Keefe, Sam Jackson, Matthew Atwell, and coxswain Sarah Burke, 5th, 15:22.084
- Mens junior 8+, B: Clark Hanlon, Ryan Camposano, Alex McCormick, William Walling-Sotolongo, Ryan Crowley, Stanley Yuan, Ewan Smith, Brian Borghesani, and coxswain Arjun Khurana, 1st, 16:09.643; Tommy Vialle, Michael Ornek, Sebastian Parker, Olivier Bradley, Benjamin Langman, Alex Lebish, Timur Sahin, Aditya Bhalchandra, and coxswain Anjali Vittal, 3rd, 16:39.202
Varsity girls
- Womens junior single: Anna Shlimak, 1st, 20:07.768; Summer Maxwell, 4th, 20:52.103
- Womens junior lightweight double: Audrey Maxwell and Emma Gresco-Caulfield, 2nd, 20:42.873
- Womens junior double: Anya Buchovecky and Arianna Thornton, 5th, 20:11.780; Zoe Flanzer and Courtney Clark, 10th, 21:24.726
- Womens junior quad: Jackie Sater, Molly O’Neill, Emma Perkins, Sophia DeFoe, 5th, 19:04.859
- Womens junior 4+: Anna Shlimak, Summer Maxwell, Katherine Fay, Kaylee Liu, and coxswain Sila Inanoglu, 3rd, 18:42.935; Celeste Keep, Polina Bolberova, Julia Hawes, Catherine Zhou, and coxswain Sophie Thompson, 21st, 21:10.599.
- Womens junior 8+, A: Katherine Fay, Kaylee Liu, Jackie Sater, Molly O’Neill, Emma Perkins, Sophia DeFoe, Celeste Keep, Audrey Maxwell, and coxswain Rachel Shrives, 4th, 17:27.484
- Womens junior 8+, B: Zoe Flanzer, Emma Gresco-Caulfield, Julia Hawes, Polina Bolberova, Courtney Clark, Vivian Liu, Hannah Dennison, Catherine Zhou, and coxswain Sophie Thompson, 12th, 19:41.631
Jill Maxwell is the parent of a BA-B rower, and covers the team’s races for the Press.
