April 13, 2006 Issue                                               

©2006 The Chestnut Hill Local

CHA experiments with sweeping; Springside boats win
by TOM UTESCHER

CHA mixed up its crew teams to surprisingly good results, scoring the 6th best time for the varsity eights that weekend.

The Monty Python comedy troupe was known to employ the catchphrase, “And now for something completely different.” In keeping with that notion, the dyed-in-the-wool scullers at Chestnut Hill Academy have entered a sweep boat (one oar per rower, instead of the two used in sculling) in each of the last two Manny Flick races on the Schuylkill.

On April 2, Joe Trinacria jumped out of his novice single and into the cox box of a Blue Devil varsity eight, and CHA lumped together its two varsity quad crews to produce a line-up featuring (stroke to bow) Tom Samph, Ryan Boutcher, Sam Lichmira, Matt Letner, Matt Wiedemer, Jamie Baker, Pete Jacobelli and Will Rhoda.

What was just as surprising (at least to outsiders) was how well the Blue Devils did, coming down the course in four minutes, 39.65 seconds to place second to Ocean City High School (4:37.64) in one of the three sections of the V-8. Chestnut Hill’s time was the sixth-best out of the 13 varsity eights racing that weekend.

A number of their teammates who stuck to sculling also did well in Flick No. 3, winning in the JV double and the novice quad. Stroke Chris Pittman and bowman Walt Wynne drove their double to victory in 5:39.44, as the runner-up boat from Montclair, N.J., lagged well behind at 5:55.11.

With a time of 5:46.39, the CHA novice quad (Don Leatherwood – stroke, Henry Meigs, Marty Schardt, Phil Schweitzer) won by an even greater margin, coming almost 23 seconds ahead of the second-place crew from Montclair.

Springside School also got a first-place finish in the third Manny Flick, thanks to the novice double crew of sophomore Wallis Furman (stroke) and freshman Katherine Roberts. They clocked in at 6:42.18 to beat out Girls Inter-Ac colleague Notre Dame (6:44.10), with Montclair well back in third (6:59.46).

In the JV Quad, there were three sections (heats) with a combined total of 13 boats, including two from Springside and one from Germantown Academy. The GA crew (Ashley Mills – stroke, Melissa Murray, Eileen Ke and Ellie Wedell) won its four-boat section in 5:49.07, topping runner-up Sacred Heart “B” by over nine seconds. The Patriots’ time was the third-best overall.

Springside’s two entries were among five quads in the fastest race, which was won by Conestoga High School in 5:40.24, with Sacred Heart “A” taking second in 5:47.83. Third, in 5:50.31, was the Springside “A” boat containing Julia Ryan (stroke), Holly Bailey, Carolyn Chisholm and Lucy Rice, which posted the fourth-best overall time. Springside “B” was fourth in this race and sixth overall (5:56.71), with its crew consisting of Sarah Souli (stroke), Emily Winant, Karen Rothschild and Christine Giovinazzo.

Springside’s Furman and Roberts remained on a roll last weekend, winning the novice double class once more in the fourth Flick. Coming down the course more than half-a-minute faster than on the previous Sunday (Saturday’s rain had pumped up the volume of water in the river, helping everyone’s time), they won in 6:10.67, thumping second-place Sacred Heart by almost 17 seconds.

The JV quad crew of Ryan, Sarah Patches (filling in for Bailey), Chisholm and Rice finished first in one of three sections, beating out Baldwin School, 5:31.28 to 5:36.48. The crew’s time was the second fastest in the full field of 13; powerful Conestoga came in at 5:27.27.

There was just one six-boat section for the novice quads, and here the Lions had Christina Sfedu (stroke), Meg Speight, Nicole Carbone and Kelsey Trueblood place third in 6:06.66. Here Sacred Heart set the standard, winning in 5:50.46. In the varsity quad, the Springside quartet of Nell Sorenson (stroke), Holly Cribbins, Gia Palermo and Hilary Drucker came in second in its section, finishing in 5:43.01 behind Shipley (5:34.77). The Lions V-quad still has some work to do, though, because the other section was considerably faster.

CHA, meanwhile, sawed its short-lived varsity eight in half, dropping Trinacria, Lichmira, Letner, Wiedemer and Rhoda into a varsity four, while Samph, Baker, Jacobelli and Boutcher occupied a varsity quad. The four won its race, albeit in the slower section. They passed the tower in 5:03.89 to win comfortably over second-place Oakcrest (5:09.45).

There was just one varsity quad contest, and the CHA crew landed third in a group of six. Up front, Malvern (4:24.20) beat out Roman Catholic (4:27.82) while Chestnut Hill was timed in 4:39.39.

Winning its section of the JV quad in 5:00.32, the Blue Devil foursome of Pete Miller (stroke), Kip Powell, Jim Ricci and Sam Franklin finished 11 seconds ahead of runner-up La Salle, and registered the fifth-best time out of eight boats in their category.

The line-up in the novice quad differed slightly from the week before, with a new alignment of Leatherwood (stroke), Schardt, Sam Baker and Schweitzer. In the Devils’ heat Malvern won in 4:57.38 and Chestnut Hill was third in 5:26.35, and with this being the faster section, the locals’ time put them third overall out of nine entries.

In the JV double, Pittman and Wynne stirred up the CHA crowd on the riverbank by making a strong move on Conestoga over the last 100 meters. They started their sprint just a bit too late though, coming in second in 5:20.18 while ‘Stoga won in 5:18.20. The two fastest times came out of the other section.

In a three-boat novice double race, CHA’s James Buckwolters and Sam Bissell (6:39.63) wound up in between Germantown Academy (Jared Asplundh, Andrew Kleiner - 6:27.25) and Montclair (6:44.86). The two entries in the novice gig event both happened to be from CHA, and the Blue Devils proved to be well-matched, as Henry Meigs (6:25.99) edged out Nick Turner (6:27.71) for the victory.