There’s a new fish head trophy plaque to mount on the Lally column at the Harvard General Store. The Bromfield Acton-Boxborough varsity rowers trolled the Head of the Fish Regatta in Saratoga Springs, New York, on Oct. 26 and 27. Seniors Anna Shlimak of Harvard and Summer Maxwell of Acton won the women’s open pair competition, defeating crews from Ithaca and Skidmore colleges to earn one of the regatta’s traditional handmade awards featuring lacquered fish heads festooned with feathers and stickers. Racing in picture-perfect weather on Saturday, followed by relentless rain on Sunday, the team swept and sculled 2 miles up Fish Creek to Saratoga Lake and brought back their limit in gold, silver, and bronze.
Maxwell and her teammates Katherine Fay and Kaylee Liu of Acton swept the B, C, and D singles races for three gold medals, and Shlimak finished third for bronze in the A subgroup. In fact, the four young women finished third, fifth, ninth, and 11th overall in a field of 33. Bromfield seniors Christopher Clark and Stefan Scornavacca finished second and third overall in the men’s single (and like the girls, Scornavacca got gold for finishing first in his division). An additional seven BA-B crews also clocked top-10 finishes against costly rowing clubs rumored to have Brobdingnagian height requirements. The boys first varsity 4 battled back to beat a Community Rowing Inc. crew that had bested them at the Head of the Charles. Significantly, said Brian DeDominici, the boys head varsity coach, “Most of our crews finished first or second among scholastic programs.”
Athletes huddled in cars or the team’s food tent in a quixotic attempt to stay warm and dry between races. But light winds kept conditions manageable, DeDominici reported. “The team was well prepared and had some great performances in what is our toughest teamwide competition of the fall,” he said. “I enjoyed watching Stefan and Christopher continue their rivalry in the single, which led to medals for both of them, and I was excited to see the interest in racing singles from lots of other less experienced boys who are quickly developing their skills in the small boats.”
The girls team captains run a costume contest for their crews each fall in Saratoga. This year, the lightweight 4 earned first prize for their interpretation of jellyfish, using their clear rain ponchos. Second place went to the pair for their embodiment of a Bob Ross painting.
Now the team will look toward next season. “Improving race results doesn’t come easy,” said Holly Hatton, the rowing program director and the girls head varsity coach. “It requires a lot of hard work over many months to ultimately give your best performance at the end of the spring. The fall is the time to start the work that builds toward that end,” Hatton explained. “It allows us to assess our strengths and weaknesses and what we need to do over the winter to improve our performance come next May. I know the girls are really excited about the next phase of our training.”
In the spring, start keeping an eye on sophomores Courtney Clark (Bromfield) and Clark Hanlon (Acton-Boxborough), who finished 15th and 17th in the U17 single. Until then, keep an eye out for Shlimak and Maxwell’s piscine plaque at the General—the one that didn’t get away.
Head of the Fish results
Varsity girls
- Women’s junior U17 single: Courtney Clark, 15th, 16:1.83
- Women’s junior U19 single: Anna Shlimak, 3rd, 14:6.15; Summer Maxwell, 5th, 14:27.17; Kaylee Liu, 9th, 14:37.08; Katherine Fay, 11th, 14:44.97
- Women’s open pair: Anna Shlimak and Summer Maxwell, 1st, 13:15.01
- Girls junior first varsity quad: Molly O’Neill, Jackie Sater, Emma Perkins, and Sophia DeFoe, 25th, 13:57.08
- Girls junior lightweight 4: Audrey Maxwell, Zoe Flanzer, Catherine Zhou Vivian Liu, and coxswain Rachel Shrives, 6th, 14:30.53
- Girls junior first varsity 4: Anna Shlimak, Summer Maxwell, Katherine Fay, Kaylee Liu, and coxswain Sila Inanoglu, 5th, 12:56.32
- Girls junior second varsity 4: Celeste Keep, Molly O’Neill, Courtney Clark, Hannah Dennison, and coxswain Sophie Thompson, 23rd, 15:44.72
- Girls junior first varsity 8: Anna Shlimak, Summer Maxwell, Katherine Fay, Kaylee Liu, Celeste Keep, Molly O’Neill, Emma Perkins, Audrey Maxwell, and coxswain Rachel Shrives, 8th, 11:53.70
- Girls junior second varsity 8: Zoe Flanzer, Sophia DeFoe, Jackie Sater, Vivian Liu, Courtney Clark, Polina Bolberova, Julia Hawes, Catherine Zhou, and coxswain Sila Inanoglu, 12th, 13:25.00
Varsity boys
- Men’s junior U17 single: Clark Hanlon, 18th, 14:9.34; Ewan Smith, 20th, 14:17.72; Thomas Keefe, 23rd, 14:47.43; Ryan Crowley, 24th, 15:10.99
- Men’s junior U19 single: Christopher Clark, 2nd, 12:50.71; Stefan Scornavacca, 3rd, 12:59.96; Sam Jackson, 18th, 14:12.97; Michael Ornek, 14:18.39
- Boys junior double: Michael Ornek and Matthew Atwell, 20th, 13:13.83
- Boys junior lightweight double: Ewan Smith and Brian Borghesani, 18th, 13:52.20
- Boys junior first varsity 4: Christopher Clark, Stefan Scornavacca, Maxwell Ewing, William Bardenheuer, and coxswain Sarah Burke, 6th, 11:32.62
- Boys junior second varsity 4: John Babcock, Thomas Keefe, Sam Jackson, William Walling-Sotolongo, and coxswain Jackie Walker, 10th, 12:13.16
- Boys junior lightweight 4: Tommy Vialle, Ryan Camposano, Clark Hanlon, Stanley Yuan, and coxswain Anjali Vittal, 10th, 12:36.48
- Boys junior first varsity 8: Christopher Clark, Stefan Scornavacca, Maxwell Ewing, William Bardenheuer, John Babcock, Thomas Keefe, Sam Jackson, Matthew Atwell, and coxswain Sarah Burke, 11th, 10:46.56
- Boys junior second varsity 8: Michael Ornek, William Walling-Sotolongo, Clark Hanlon, Ryan Camposano, Alex McCormick, Stanley Yuan, Ewan Smith, Brian Borghesani, and coxswain Arjun Khurana, 7th, 11:13.73
- Boys junior third varsity 8: Tommy Vialle, Timur Sahin, Sebastian Parker, Ryan Crowley, Benjamin Molnar, Alex Lebish, Benjamin Langman, Aditya Balchandra, and coxswain Anjali Vittal, 8th, 11:59.64
Jill Maxwell is a B A-B parent who covers the team’s races for the Press.
