Bromfield Acton-Boxborough rowers brought multiple medals back from the Amber Zapatka Memorial Regatta in Lowell on May 11 and 12. The two-day contest on the Merrimack River had been canceled for the past few years, first for COVID-19 and then in 2023 due to problems with the Pawtucket Dam not far from the finish line, so this was the first time since 2019 that the team was able to take part.
The regatta saw 284 boats representing 27 clubs. BA-B crews competed in 16 events. “Conditions were great Saturday morning but turned blustery in the afternoon, and that adversely affected everyone’s times,” said Chris Whitbeck, who coaches the novice boys. “Sunday was very nice.”
All of the BA-B girls crews who raced in Saturday’s time trials finished in the top six slots, ensuring them a place in their respective grand finals on Sunday. Those finals yielded four gold, one silver, and one bronze medal. The girls won gold in all four of the coxed 4 events they entered; the single and the 8 finished just out of reach of the podium in fourth. The girls pair and second varsity 4 races were close enough to require photo finishes. Holly Hatton, head coach of the varsity girls, called it “an outstanding effort by all.”
The boys second varsity 4 earned bronze in the grand final, while the first varsity 4 and the first and second varsity 8s all won the B finals. Bromfield senior Kyle Sharma said of the second varsity 8: “This was one of our most consistent races, with one of our most consistent lineups yet. That was due to wonderful leading from all our teammates in the boat, like having a great stroke seat. We maintained good sportsmanship throughout the two races. We didn’t make the A final, but we tried to row our own race.” He added, “Even between the time trial and the final, we improved by a significant margin of 20 seconds.”
The girls novice 8 and the boys novice 4 both finished fourth in their finals. The boys novice pair finished fifth, racing in a varsity event.
Next up for the team is the Northeast Regional Championship Regatta on the very same course in Lowell, May 18 and 19. This competition determines whether any BA-B crews qualify for USRowing’s Youth National Championship in Florida in June. There’s also one more event in Lowell, the Massachusetts Public Schools Rowing Association’s spring state championship on Memorial Day weekend.
Sharma sees a bright future for BA-B. “I’ve been on this team for six years now,” he said. “It’s really interesting to see how everyone’s grown and matured as people. Just looking at the senior group, we’ve become like leaders essentially. It’s interesting to see how that passes on to juniors and other up-and-coming years as well.”
Jill Maxwell is a BA-B parent.
Varisty girls
- 1x: Abby Depew, fourth place, 9:24.688
- 2-: Eleanor Daly and Emma Lawson, second, 8:08.72
- 2x: Johnny Greenberg and Emily Yang, third, 7:38.898; Elizabeth Feirouz and Nina Manglani, fifth, 8:02.734
- U174+: Gabriella Shee, Alicia Tang, Caroline Charland, Annabelle Purcell, and Caroline Yang, and coxswain Gwynnie Poutasse, first, 8:04.930
- 1V4+: Will Stoddard, Beatrice Maxwell, Braeden Hartley, Emma Gregg, and coxswain Hanna Lem-Moustakas, first, 7:16.248
- 2V4+: Abby Depew, Isabel Walker, Alexis Nichols, Ava Dawn, and coxswain Adhiti Venkatesh, first, 7:54.269
- 3V4+: Nooriya Taherbhoy, Ellie Pulido, Abigail Hirschberg, Reval Argow-Sniderman, and coxswain Sofi Marder, first, 8:13.445
- 1V8+: Johnny Greenberg, Emily Yang, Emma Lawson, Eleanor Daly, Will Stoddard, Emma Gregg, Braeden Hartley, Beatrice Maxwell, and coxswain Hanna Lem-Moustakas, fourth, 6:52.681
- 2V8+: Isabel Walker, Ellie Pulido, Caroline Burianek, Reval Argow-Sniderman, Elizabeth Feirouz, Alexis Nichols, Ava Dawn, Nina Manglani, and coxswain Adhiti Venkatesh, fifth, 7:14.185
Varsity boys
- V2-: Mihir Vidhate and Alexander Pearce (a novice crew in a varsity race), fifth place, 9:53.149
- 1V4+: Ulad Danilovich, Leo Sullivan, Atticus Keep, Aidan Nolde, and coxswain Noah Kim, first in B final, 6:53.284
- 2V4+: Russell Poutasse, Jeffrey Wang, Reid Nelson, Alex Horton, and coxswain Sofi Marder, third, 6:58.344; Parker Cole, Patrick Tucker, Shankara Rao, Henry Belanger, and coxswain Austin Lai, fifth, 7:02.324
- 1V8+: Ulad Danilovich, Leo Sullivan, Parker Cole, Patrick Tucker, Shankara Rao, Henry Belanger, Atticus Keep, Aidan Nolde, and coxswain Noah Kim, first in B final, 6:12.987
- 2V8+: Kyle Sharma, Sam Goldgar, Russell Poutasse, Liam Abayasinghe, Adrian Erdogus-Brady, Dino Mehic, Gavin Datta, Alex Horton, and coxswain Topher Korka, first in B final, 7:15.669
