Varsity, novice, and middle school athletes of the Bromfield Acton-Boxborough rowing team competed at the New England Youth & Master Championship Regatta on Worcester’s Lake Quinsigamond on Oct. 8 and 9.
Although BA-B is made up of public school kids, the team is technically a club since it draws from more than one school. School and club teams compete in the same events, but in some cases the judges award medals for the top three crews in each category. Thus a boat might finish outside the top three overall but still earn a medal, as was the case with the girls first and second varsity 4s and the boys first varsity 8. Acton’s Eliza Straayer and Harvard’s Will Stoddard each won a gold medal decisively in the girls varsity and novice singles races. The boys novice 4 took home silver, and the girls novice first and second 8s earned bronzes. BA-B’s middle school crews raced for the very first time; the boys bested Greater Lawrence for gold while the girls grabbed silver, after Amoskeag Rowing Club out of Hooksett, New Hampshire.
Rowers sculled (using two oars each) on Saturday and swept (with one oar each) on Sunday. “I thought the two-day regatta allowed the varsity girls to shine in several events,” said their coach, Holly Hatton, who is also the team’s rowing program director. “We had strong performances each day,” she added, pointing to the squad’s gold medals in novice and varsity singles as well as the first varsity 8 improving their placement over the previous week’s race. The girls double finished sixth out of 17, after practicing together just twice.
Noah Stein, Sam Goldgar, Aidan Lemke, Abraham Rahman, and Ulad Danilovich, remove their oars after racing in the second varsity 8. (Courtesy photo)
The boys 8 had to shake off a last-minute injury that shuffled their lineup on race day. “Will Pharo is a seasoned oar and seamlessly took on the role of leading the crew,” said Gary Piantedosi, their head coach. “Aidan Nolde, a relatively new rower, confidently switched sides to slot into the portside six seat. Jorgen Johannesen had raced the 4 earlier in the day, filling in Aidan’s vacant starboard seat, and they were good to go. They weren’t pleased with their ninth-place overall finish,” Piantedosi said, “but they were only 12 seconds out of third overall. It was a nice effort for a makeshift lineup.”
There was some confusion at the start of the boys first varsity singles race: The three different age groups traditionally race different distances, but a communication breakdown resulted in half the field racing a shorter distance. The BA-B competitors raced the longer distance. “All of the regattas we race in are only possible because so many people volunteer to help,” Piantedosi said. “Mistakes happen. We thank the volunteers for all that they do.”
Undaunted by two days of hard rowing, six boys and two girls then changed into their marching band uniforms and rode a bus to North Reading to compete in the Massachusetts Instrumental and Choral Conductors Association’s Northeast District I festival on Sunday afternoon.
BA-B crews will travel to Pembroke, New Hampshire, on Oct. 16 for the New Hampshire Championships George Dirth Regatta, hosted by Amoskeag.
Varsity girls results
- Junior 1x: Eliza Straayer, 1st place, 15 minutes, 41.8 seconds
- Junior 2x: Beatrice Maxwell and Emma Gregg, 6th, 15:00.7
- Junior 4x: Zoe Gendreau-Distler, Nosara Maxwell, Sophia Atwell, and Rachel Walker, 3rd, 13:17.9
- Junior 4x+: Sera Baang, Will Stoddard, Piper Sheehan, Ava Dawn, and coxswain Emily Yang, 6th, 14:27.7
- Junior 1V4+: Eliza Straayer, Beatrice Maxwell, Emma Gregg, Mia Hartley, and coxswain Amita Khurana, 2nd, 17:04.1
- Junior 2V4+: Evelyn Huang, Yolander Yang, Alexis Nichols, Nooriya Taherbhoy, and coxswain Adhiti Venkatesh, 3rd, 19:07.1
Varsity boys results
- Junior 1x: Charles Maxwell, 4th place, 14 minutes 58.1 seconds; Wyatt Neville, 13th, 17:22.2
- Junior 2x: William Pharo and Milo Whitbeck, 15th, 14:24.0; Sam Goldgar and Leo Sullivan, 17th, 15:15.4
- Junior 1V4+: Abraham Rahman, Nikhil Suri, Milo Whitbeck, Noah Stein, and coxswain Lucas Villaseñor, 12th, 17:47.2
- Junior 2V4+: Jorgen Johannesen, Shankara Rao, Ulad Danilovich, Aidan Lemke, and coxswain Ben Bluth, 4th, 16:42.6
- Junior 3V4+: Trevor Magnus, Gavin Datta, Alexander Horton, Jeffery Chang, and coxswain Wyatt Neville, 9th, 18:13.6
- Junior 1V8+: Leo Sullivan, Jorgen Johannesen, Adam Castriotta, Derek Uhrich, Matthew Chytil, Aidan Nolde, Charles Maxwell, William Pharo, and coxswain Lucas Villaseñor, 3rd, 14:43.6
- Junior 2V8+: Abraham Rahman, Nikhil Suri, Aidan Lemke, Sam Goldar, Milo Whitbeck, Maxwell Hurlbut-Lesk, William Thomas, Noah Stein, and coxswain Ben Bluth, 5th, 16:32.3
- Junior 3V8+: Trevor Magnus, Gavin Datta, Alexander Horton, Myles McCormick, Noah Friedman, Charlie Leuci, Darren Quek, Kyle Sharma, and coxswain Nathan Kushner, 5th, 17:54.8
Jill Maxwell is a BA-B parent.
