April 6, 2006 Issue                                               

©2006 The Chestnut Hill Local

Mount crew rookies revealed, veterans excel
by TOM UTESCHER

Mount St. Joe's Mary Grace Maggiano pulls on the river last Sunday. The third week of the Manny Flick series brought more success for the Magic's more seasoned crews. The varsity eight, including Maggiano, beat back a challenge by Holy Spirit to claim victory. ( Photo by Lene White)

Mount St. Joseph Academy sent its freshman and novice eights into major race action for the first time on Sunday, when the third week of the Manny Flick series brought continued success for the Magic’s more seasoned crews.

The varsity eight (Jane Mieczkowski – coxswain, Megan McCusker – stroke, Steph Farris, Francesca Crozier-Fitzgerald, Meredith Walsh, Mary Grace Maggiano, Meg Kehan, Emily Walker, Hilary O’Shea) once again shrugged off a late challenge from Holy Spirit, winning in 5:16.25 with about six seconds to spare. Leading from the start and still able to produce a kick at the end of the race, the Magic V-8 appears to have assimilated its two sophomores (Kehan and O’Shea) and is becoming a refined unit.

“It felt like we were gliding on a silken cloud,” rhapsodized the young O’Shea, whose boat turned in the best time of 16 varsity eights racing in three different sections. The V-8’s performance was a welcome birthday gift for Crozier-Fitzgerald, a senior who turned 18 on Sunday.

The Magic lightweight eight doubled the margin of victory posted by the MSJ “bigs,” finishing 12.03 seconds ahead of second-place Archbishop Prendergast. The lights (Devon Stewart – cox, Jenn Young - stroke, Liz Stanowski, Marykate Kelly, Mollie Flynn, Kelly O’Neill, Jenna O’Neill, Liz Keenan, Meg Farris) checked in with an impressive early-April time of 5:10.29.

Intent on their tasks are juniors Megan McCusker (left) and Jane Mieczkowski (coxswain). (Photos by Lene White)

Another win went to the Second Eight (Whitney Zielinski – cox, Christine Quinn - stroke, Becky Lederer, Erin McGann, Kate Klein, Kerry Roman, Megan Scher, Athena Diaconis, Liz McDonald). Their time of 5:32.22 gave them more than a seven-second margin over runner-up Holy Spirit, and also eclipsed the mark of 5:33.31, which won the other section in this event.

In other categories, there were indications that Mount St. Joe’s may have to start looking over its shoulder at Catholic Academies rival Merion Mercy. The Magic’s JV eight (Alicia Elliott – cox, Gina DiDomenico – stroke, Amanda Chain, Lawren Kiefer, Mer Weber, Megan Schluckebier, Colleen Beichert, Lizzy Kiernan, Gabi Jordan) galloped to a 20-second win over Belleville (N.J.), but their time of 5:23.97 was not quite as good as the 5:21.82 that earned Merion’s Golden Bears the victory in the other section.

Sophomore Hilary O’Shea, bow seat

Merion also eclipsed the Mount in the freshman eight and novice eight categories, but it should be noted that both Bears crews had performed at the second Manny Flick on March 26, while the Magic freshmen and novices were making their Flick debut a week later. In both of these categories, the competition consisted of head races, in which all of the entrants are assembled above the starting line, released one-by-one at set intervals, then ranked according to time.

Merion’s ninth graders put up the best time in the field of 13 boats (5:47.70), and the Mount was a reasonably close second (5:49.49). The Magic frosh sported Italian flags and nicknames on their uniforms, an inside joke conceived because the line-up in this vessel (Nicole Weinrich – cox, Rachel Weller – stroke, Meaghan Scher, Johanna Duff, Molly Southwell, Liz Kelly, Mary Maginnis, Erika McCormick, Caroline Ayes) is largely Irish-American.

In a novice eight class that featured 15 entries, Merion was again the fastest, with a time of 5:59.07. Germantown Academy has launched a girls eight this spring, and the Patriots’ novice crew of Sara Honickman (cox), Taylor Black (stroke), Claire Dougherty, Abby Korth, Andrea Konski, Alaina Wartman, Ally Fried, Hannah Freedman and Molly Murray turned in the second-best time, at 6:01.49. Mount St. Joseph checked in at 6:07.43 to place third with a crew of Claire Geruson (cox), Kaitlin Scher, Blaire Kelly, Maeve Flynn, Megan Welsh, Emma Brown, Ali Pugh, Betsy Thompson and Sofia Quinodoz.

Several Mount St. Joe fours also finished in the top three. In the lightweight four, Danielle Ohman (cox), Christina Bernal (stroke), Claire Kohler, Katie Leonard and Gina Perri lost a barnburner to Agnes Irwin, finishing in 6:03.40 to place second to the Owls (6:02.93), while Belleville was another half-second back in third.

The Novice Four (Kelly Stefanowicz – cox, Kelly O’Neill the Younger – stroke, Nicole Rossetti, Chrisen Kouch, Tori O’Malley) was also runner-up in its race. Winning in 6:23.88, Ocean City High School was followed by the Magic (6:30.24) and third-place Germantown Academy (6:46.03). The GA line-up consisted of Lindsay Cherry (cox), Ally Rutkosky (stroke), Sarah Soulen, Brittany Wolf and Anna Washburn.

In the Varsity Four race, the Mount’s Kaitlin McDonald (cox), Molly Thompson (stroke), Jackie Hain, Denny Belcher, and Colleen McNamara finished in the middle of a five-boat field. They crossed the wire in 6:14.40, while Lawrenceville won in 5:50.48.