Area girls churn out victories in final Flick

Posted 4/23/18

No rival boats were anywhere near Mount St. Joe’s lightweight eight as it approached the finish line. (Photo by Tom Utescher)[/caption] by Tom Utescher Last weekend on the Schuylkill the fifth and …

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Area girls churn out victories in final Flick

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No rival boats were anywhere near Mount St. Joe’s lightweight eight as it approached the finish line. (Photo by Tom Utescher)[/caption]

by Tom Utescher

Last weekend on the Schuylkill the fifth and final race in the Manny Flick/Horvat regatta was held, and it was also the third Sunday of the gender division in the race schedule. All of the girls’ events came in the morning and at midday, and many area boats excelled. In some highly populated categories head racing was held, with boats released from the starting line one-by-one at regular intervals and then ranked according to their times at the finish.

Mount St. Joseph Academy had a successful outing overall, and the Magic lightweight eight and freshman eight, in particular, sped to convincing victories. After racing with the varsity boats for much of the spring, the lightweights (Abby Schwenger, Karsen Healy, Maddie Sandquist, Lauren Vesey, Claire Broderick, Nora Hogan, Harriett Blatney, MaryKate Ciolko, Shayne McKernan) were entered in their own specific category this time around, and wrapped up their race 18 seconds ahead of the runner-up from upstate New York, Niskayuna High School.

The freshman eight (Caroline Donahue, Izzy McCafferty, Kaylee Dougherty, Hannah Lemanowicz, Cate Van Stone, Ena Altier, Sydney McKernan, Maggie Newell, Olivia Guza) was one of the boats which head-raced. The MSJ ninth-graders were sent off first and kept widening the gap on the next crew in line, posting the best time by almost eight seconds.

Other young Mounties performed well in the novice eight head racing, with the “A” boat (Ella Valencia, Michaela Donato, Kate Roberts, Emma Del Vecchio, Caroline Kyle, Claire Hanycz, Ruby French, Ilsa Maguire, Nicole Uzzo) knocking out the fastest time and the “B” boat (Arlyn Kryst, Hannah Rossmeisl, Julia Norton, Emma Dougherty, Maddy Donahue, Luca Bixby, Moira Ferry, Lindsay Shearman, Sarah Gorovitz) coming in third in the 18-boat field.

In yet another head race event, the top time out of 30 entries belonged to the Magic’s JV four (Libby Fecak, Caitlin Lawson, Brigit Ferry, Kaitlyn Squadrito, Maureen McGreevey).

Winning a duel with Ocean City High School, Mount St. Joe’s second varsity eight (Izzy Mina, Grace Morrow, Aileen Mansfield, Katie Hallahan, Molly McKenna, Julia Flynn, Aine Playdon, Sam Cordero, Christie Faust) won the first flight in their event, where the winning time was 14 seconds better than that in the second race.

As in most of the Flicks this spring, the Magic’s JV eight (Katie Greed, Julia Woodrow, Lauren Kiefner, Emily Lubinski, Eva Timoney, Riley Gorman, Mae Sweeney, Julia Ianieri, Eileen McKenna) competed in the varsity eight class, winning the faster of two flights last Sunday.

Springside Chestnut Hill’s Olivia Clark and Hope Lee won their flight in the varsity double event. (Photo by Tom Utescher)[/caption]

The jayvees finished about a second-and-a-half ahead of the regular MSJ varsity eight (Maddie Walsh, Gia Hunt, Katie Edling, Caroline Timoney, Gabi Natale, Cathryn Antonacio, Aydin McPhilemy, Erica Arnold, Brynn Pelletier). It wasn’t the first time this had happened, but now it seems that a fix could be on the way, since a correctable issue came to light having to do with the execution of race strategy.

Early in the morning, Flick Five had started off with some local victories in smaller vessels. At the outset in the girls’ gig/novice single, Germantown Friends’ Evelyn Anderson was challenged coming alongside Peter’s Island (about three quarters of the way down the course) by a Conestoga High School rival, but she responded to the threat to win by three seconds.

Next, there was a victory for Springside Chestnut Hill’s Kelly Doerzbacher and Lenny Lorenz in what was by far the faster of the flights in the freshman/novice double.

About 20 minutes later, GFS picked up a win in the novice quad courtesy of Sophia Ortega, Lui Nehez, Amelia Sanchirico and Annika Ehrlacher. Here too, the crews in the other race in this category were a good deal slower. In the ninth-graders-only freshman quad class, SCH’s Ella Webb, Polly Sweeney, Kiley McTamney and Olivia McHugh placed third in their flight, with a time that was a bit better than the winning number in the other section. In that other race, Penn Charter finished second with Alyssa Neducsin, Amanda Cowhey, Taylor Lokoff, Julia Veith.

Springside Chestnut Hill’s Sweeney is the younger sister of Mount St. Joe rower Mae Sweeney (a sophomore), and McTamney’s sister Kayla (a senior) is the mainstay in the pitching circle for the Blue Devils’ softball team.

Moving on to the JV racing, PC had Lucy Alter become runner-up in the single, while in head racing Charter’s double staffed by Gabby Mancini and Riley McDade was timed second out of a dozen contestants. There were also head races in the JV quad, and here the best outcome for area scullers was seventh place for Germantown Academy’s Elizabeth Berlinger, Margaret Horvat, Maylin Lindsey and Addy Campbell.

In the lightweight competition in the doubles, SCH came in second courtesy of Paige Aloise and Bridget Hennessy while Zaynab Sanogo and Sophie Henisz placed third for Germantown Friends.

Germantown Academy and Springside Chestnut Hill each had longstanding partners entered in the varsity doubles class, where their experience paid off. GA’s Elizabeth Wescott and Julia McKernan won the second flight with the second-fastest overall time, and Hope Lee and Olivia Clark of SCH won the third flight.

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