November 20, 2008 Issue                                       

©2007 The Chestnut Hill Local

CHA, Springside, Mount finish fall crew season with two races
by TOM UTESCHER

Mount St. Joseph Academy’s varsity eight capped off a successful fall crew season by winning the Theresa Braxton Trophy at the Bill Braxton Memorial Regatta on Nov. 9. Pictured on the awards dock are (standing, left to right) Coach Mike McKenna, Nicole Weinrich, Mary Maginnis, Erika McCormick, Katy Gregor, Vicky Babson, Laura Pospisil, Mary Duff, Johanna Duff, and Chierika Ukogu. In the foreground is Cine Braxton. (Photo by Kevin Kelly.)

The fall rowing season has seen a marked increase in both the number of events and participants in recent years, and two weekends ago crews fromChestnut Hill Academy, Mount St. Joseph Academy, and Springside School wrapped up their autumn agenda. In back-to-back events at the Kelly Drive course on the Schuylkill, the Blue Devils, Magic, and Lions raced in the Frostbite Regatta on Saturday, Nov. 8, and in the Bill Braxton Memorial Regatta the following day.

For the first time at CHA and Springside, a physical education credit is being given for participation in fall crew, and each school entered a quad in the high school category at the Frostbite and the Braxton. They rowed under the name of the University Barge Club, a boathouse the two schools have called home for many years.

In the boys’ boat, the CHA lineup consisted of (stroke to bow) seniors Sam Baker, Marty Schardt, and Don Leatherwood, and junior Gordon Anthony. In both regattas, the sculling boats were arbitrarily assigned to different races, and at the Frostbite, Chestnut Hill came in second in the slower of two heats.

Out of four heats at the Braxton, CHA was again second in its section, but this time the boat ahead of the Blue Devils was by far the fastest in the entire field. This was Connecticut’s Maritime Rowing Club, which was the only crew to finish in under five minutes (4:55.56). The sprint for second place provided some drama as CHA (5:19.41), sitting fourth in the inside lane with under 400 meters to go, made a strong move up into the runner-up spot by the time the boats came to the wire.

Springside only had three scullers ready to row, so the UBC vessel’s bow seat was filled by Anne Mulholland, a senior at Upper Darby High School who is the daughter of CHA assistant coach Brian Mulholland. Lions’ junior Laura Chisholm stroked the quad, and sophomores Sofia Soto Reyes and Meg Harrison pulled in the three and two seats respectively.

The University Barge Club girls came in fifth in the Frostbite race, competing in the faster of the two contests in their category. There were three heats the following day for the Braxton, and UBC wound up third in its race with a time of 6:05.14, ranking them eighth out of the overall field.

Back in October, CHA’s Don Leatherwood had raced at the Head of the Charles Regatta in Boston, sculling in a double along with Corentin Morel, his summer rowing partner from Pelham, NY. The HOC follows the standard “head race” format in which boats start one-at-a-time at set intervals and race the clock, rather than one another, along a 3.2-mile course. Leatherwood and Morel, racing under the aegis of the Essex Rowing Club, came in 13th out of 35 entries.

After the graduation of a very athletic class of 2008, the performance of several Mount St. Joseph sports teams has fallen off somewhat, but not so for the MSJ crew. An outstanding effort in the fall season races has been produced by what promises to be one of the best varsity eight boats the Magic have assembled. Locally, they won the Kings Head, Navy Day, and Head of the Schuylkill regattas, and at the Head of the Charles they finished first among the true high school crews. The Mount came in third overall behind Boston’s Community Rowing Inc. and California’s Marin Rowing Association, club crews that draw athletes from a number of high schools.

Five of the oarswomen were in the Magic’s V-8 last season, and the new additions came from the lightweight eight and the JV eight, both strong boats last spring. Seated right in front of coxswain Nicole Weinrich are two of her senior classmates, stroke Mary Maginnis and seven-seat Erika McCormick. A fourth upperclassman, Johanna Duff, is ahead in the two spot. Five juniors fill out the lineup: Katie Gregor (six), Vicky Babson (five), Laura Pospisil (four), Mary Duff (three), and Chierika Ukogu (bow).

Last weekend, the Magic varsity boat won the Frostbite Regatta by 14.28 seconds, then turned around and won the Braxton by 11.99 over the Mount’s own second eight (Sabrina Harkins [cox], Kaitlin Scher [stroke], Molly Southwell, Emma Brown, Blaire Kelly, Meg Welsh, Catie Travaline, Molly Tenzinger, and Meg Scher).

“They’re very athletic and, at this point, very experienced,” commented MSJ varsity coach Mike McKenna. “They’re not overwhelmingly big, but they’re strong and fit and they’re very skilled. They row well.”

The Mount’s lightweight eight ended the regular 2008 season with some sub-par performances, but the lights seem to be on track this fall. Sarah Jordan is coxing a crew consisting of (stroke to bow) Katie Casebeer, Sam Brecht, Alanna McCloy, Nicole Rossetti, Caroline Ayes, Sofia Quinodoz, Meg Breshahan, and Betsy Thompson.

“For me, they probably exceeded expectations,” McKenna said. “They were our second-best boat throughout the fall, and they placed in the top half at the Head of the Charles, which qualified them for next year.”