Penn Charter's girls' JV quad (foreground) moves ahead of Germantown Academy in Manny Flick number two. (Photo by Tom Utescher)

by Tom Utescher

The snowfall that arrived in Philadelphia in the middle of March caused the cancellation of the spring crew season's first Manny Flick/Horvat Series regatta on the 19th, and it wasn't until last Sunday that area rowers were able to compete on the Kelly Drive course for the first time in 2017.

Mount St. Joseph Academy fared well in the actual rowing, but beforehand the Magic suffered an equipment catastrophe. The school's boat trailer, parked outside the Mount's Conshohocken boathouse overnight with shells loaded and ready for transport, was apparently struck by another vehicle, presumably another boat trailer being backed around in the parking lot.

Two boats were knocked out of commission entirely, and a third had damage that was able to be repaired in time for the vessel to be used on Sunday. Lacking integrity as well as driving skills, the guilty party simply snuck away from the scene. It's believed that the other vehicle or its cargo probably suffered some damage during the incident, and that may allow authorities to track down the guilty party.

Smaller vessels than the fours and eights that Mount St. Joe races were first on the course on Sunday morning, and in the opening race of the day Germantown Friends School freshman Doulin Appleberry won his debut on the Schuylkill, placing first out of five entries in the boys' novice single/gig by four-and-a-half seconds.

The boys' varsity quad from Springside Chestnut Hill moves alongside Peter's Island. (Photo by Tom Utescher)

Next, Penn Charter rookies (stroke to bow) Dorothy McIlvaine, Gabriela Mancini, Aurora Hännikäinen, and Riley McDade topped a pair of competitors in the girls' freshman quad. In the boys' race in this category, Springside Chestnut Hill Academy rookies Gyre Jaeger, Austin Youngren, Ian McLelland and Eliot Rusk came in third out of six sculls.

Moving on to the junior varsity events, Germantown Academy had Derek Walkush take second in the first flight of the boys' single, and a little later the girls' JV double was won by the SCH combo of Hope Lee and Olivia Clark in the single flight in that class.

The most successful of Mount St. Joseph's JV fours was in not in the fastest flight in this category, but Mounties Gabby Ford (cox), Hailey Goodyear, Jess Webb, Eva Timoney, and Katelynn Clement beat all of the boats lined up against them.

Rounding out the JV portion of the regatta for area crews was the Magic's eight (Abby Schwenger, Julia Woodrow, Julia Flynn, Katie Hallahan, Lauren Kiefner, Cathryn Antonacio, Claire Broderick, Emily Lubinski, and Aydin McPhilemy), which breezed to victory in its flight and posted the best time overall by 13 seconds.

Germantown Friends junior James Wright proved the fastest of 15 competitors in the varsity single. (Photo by Tom Utescher)

In the first of two races she would row on Sunday due to a personnel problem for SCH, Grace Tasman stroked the Blue Devils' lightweight double to victory, with Larissa Noble working the bow seat. Mount St. Joe's lightweight four won its flight with Sofia Bernal (cox), MaryKate Ciolko, Nora Hogan, Aileen Mansfield, and Shayne McKernan, although traditional rival Merion Mercy was a little faster winning the other section.

In a lightly-populated lightweight eight race, the Mount line-up consisted of Maddie Walsh (cox), Karsen Healy, Maddie Sandquist, Erica Arnold, Emma French, Brooke Gimaro (a senior who will row at Drexel), Molly Whalen (a Villanova recruit), Maddie Curran, and Emma Veon. The Magic walloped Merion and one other rival, winning by 20 seconds.

Mount St. Joseph then was runner-up to Holy Spirit High School (Absecon, N.J.) by three seconds in the second eight, where Katie Greed coxed for Sam Altomare (who's headed for Fairfield), Paige Comtois, Eileen McKenna, Celene Mina, Aine Playdon, Olivia Snakard, Sam Cordero, and Riley Gorman.

Varsity competition then got underway with a girls' varsity single contest that included four oarswomen from area schools. Unfortunately for them, the fifth entry was New Jersey's Julia Giannotta, a senior from Immaculate Heart Academy who has signed with the University of Miami. While one of the locals capsized the Bergen County native sped to victory, leaving Sam Pancoe of GFS second (a respectable 11 seconds off the lead), SCH's Eliza Brody third, and GA's Grace Loughlin fourth.

Penn Charter's Stephen Flemming finished second in the initial flight of the boys' varsity single, then in the second section Germantown Friends' James Wright won with the best time overall out of 15 entries.

Doubles racing began with GA's Lindsey Naber and Elizabeth Wescott winning the opening flight. In the next heat Penn Charter's Kelsey White and Emma Grugan placed third, but this was a fast flight and their time was actually slightly better than that posted by the Patriot pair in the previous race. White will row for Boston College and her classmate, Grugan, will race for Holy Cross.

SCH's Grace Tasman now engaged in her second race of the day, stroking the varsity quad with Amanda Miller, Grace Youngren, and Sophia Djerassi in front of her. The Blue Devils were runners-up in a speedy second flight, while Germantown Academy placed third in the first race with Emma Rapp, Elizabeth Berlinger, Ava Hook, and Julia McKernan.

Mount St. Joseph's lightweight eight walked away from its rivals. (Photo by Tom Utescher)

A future BC teammate of Penn Charter's Kelsey White is seated in the coxswain's chair of the Mount St. Joseph varsity eight, senior Shannon LoStracco. Just in front of her is sophomore stroke Katie Edling, whose older brother, Sean, rows, wrestles, and plays football for Springside Chestnut Hill.

Ahead of her in the boat you'll find Mount siblings Alex and Gabi Natale in seats seven and four, respectively. Gabi is a junior and Alex is a senior who has signed on with the University of Tennessee. In between are six seat Grace Comerford, who will row for Virginia, and number five Brynn Pelletier, a junior transfer from Harriton High School. Michelle Lipovsky, committed to George Washington, is in the three seat, and the bow pair consists of sophomores Caroline Timoney and Gia Hunt.

In the first flight of the varsity eight last Sunday, Holy Spirit destroyed the field, and in the second race the Magic did the same, besting Spirit's time by four seconds in the process.

Two more "Flicks" will take place over the next two weekends before the break for Easter Sunday.