Nine medals for Mount crew at City Championships

Posted 5/6/19

Just after the final stroke in their gold medal performance at the City Championships last Sunday, the rowers in Mount St. Joseph’s varsity eight idle beneath the Columbia Bridge. (Photo by Tom …

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Nine medals for Mount crew at City Championships

Posted

Just after the final stroke in their gold medal performance at the City Championships last Sunday, the rowers in Mount St. Joseph’s varsity eight idle beneath the Columbia Bridge. (Photo by Tom Utescher)[/caption]

by Tom Utescher

On May 5, the concluding day of the 2019 City Championships, the Mount St. Joseph Academy crew was celebrating Cinco de Moisto in soggy style along the Schuylkill. The weather on Saturday afternoon turned out decently for the qualifying time trials, but Sunday was a wet and relatively chilly affair the whole way through.

None of this seemed to bother the Magic much, as they sent nine of their 11 entries through to the finals. There, the Mounties earned gold medals in the novice eight, the JV four, the second eight and in the marquee event, the varsity eight. Silver medals went to the other five finalists, the freshman four, the freshman eight, the JV eight, the lightweight four and the lightweight eight.

Two of the Mount St. Joe fours did not make it out of Saturday’s time trials, but the other seven boats advanced. They would be joined by two other vessels that passed directly into the finals due to the low number of entries in their categories.

These two boats were the lightweight eight (Sofia Bernal – cox, Claire Broderick – stroke, Kaylee Dougherty, Shayne McKernan, Caroline Kyle, MaryKate Ciolko, Harriett Blatney, Caitlyn Lawson, Nicole Uzzo) and the second eight (Izzy Mina – cox, Julia Woodrow – stroke, Eileen McKenna, Emily Lubinski, Eva Timoney, Maureen McGreevey, Aydin McPhilemy, Nora Hogan, Aine Playdon).

Most of the MSJ qualifiers went directly into the final round, but the JV four was in one of the few classes where there was a semifinal round.

Things began well as the freshman four (Giovanna Consiglio – cox, Devon Lasky – stroke), Sophia Lundin, Evelyn McGreevey, Liz Dolich) posted the best time by three seconds in its head race. Next, the freshman eight (Annmarie Wallis – cox, Sarah Burns – stroke, Christina Kelly, Julia Geib, Leah Manzo-McCottry, Maggie Horgan, Brianna Montgomery, Kate Kelly, Maeve Carmody) placed second, right behind Catholic Academies rival Merion Mercy.

Another league school, Gwynedd Mercy, took the top spot in the novice eight, with Mount St. Joseph (Eimilie Scibelli – cox, Caitlin O’Reilly – stroke, Francesca Fede, Cassie Koestler, Sarah Powell, Grace McDonough, Ella-May Creighton-Reddington, Olivia Schleeper, Reilly Peters) second.

The JV four (Ella Valencia – cox, Emma Dougherty – stroke, Maddy Donahue, Olivia Guza, Ruby French) advanced to the semifinal round with the second fastest qualifying performance in its category. A second-place time was also earned by the JV eight (Lauren Walsh – cox, Kaitlyn Squadrito – stroke, Sydney McKernan, Claire Hanycz, Molly McKenna, Ena Altier, Ilsa Maguire, Julia Ianieri, Nora Broderick).

The Magic were second yet again in the lightweight four with their “A” boat (Caroline Donahue – cox, Izzy McCafferty – stroke, Ainsley Morasco, Grace Morrow, Moira Ferry), while a “B” boat in this event just missed the cut, timed in seventh place.

The last Mount qualifier was first in its head race by an impressive eight seconds; this was the varsity eight containing Katie Greed (cox), Maggie Newell (stroke), Katie Edling, Hannah Lemanowicz, Cate Van Stone, Mae Sweeney, Caroline Timoney, Riley Gorman, Gia Hunt).

Mount St. Joe (background) was leading in the freshman eight final until Merion Mercy forged into the lead late in the race. (Photo by Tom Utescher)

First up for the Mounties in the Sunday morning rain was the JV four semifinal. In the second of the two semi’s, the Magic advanced by coming in second behind Gwynedd, although the times of the top two boats in the other semifinal were slightly faster.

The first Mount St. Joseph medal was delivered by the freshman four. They won a silver medal as they crossed the line a second-and-a-half behind Upper Merion High School, but far ahead of the bronze medalist, Bishop Eustace.

The novice eight was challenged by top qualifier Gwynedd Mercy as the boats raced alongside Peter’s Island, then the Mount boat countered the Monarchs’ move and held on to win the gold medal by 1.3 seconds.

In the freshman eight, the Magic relinquished the lead to Merion Mercy just as the boats were about to clear the island. The Mounties tried to respond to the Merion sprint, but the Golden Bears won by a second, while the Magic took the silver medal nine seconds ahead of Lower Merion High School.

Mount St. Joseph’s JV four, on the other hand, easily withstood a Merion Mercy challenge near the end of the race, claiming the gold medal by a three-second margin.

The top qualifier in the JV eight, Ocean City, maintained its standing to capture the gold medal in the finals, while the Mount boat stayed in second to take home the silver. The Magic were two ticks behind O.C. and more than six seconds ahead of number three Montclair (New Jersey) High School.

Montclair got the better of the Mounties in the lightweight four, with a two-and-a-half second gap at the finish line. After the Magic claimed the silver medal, the next boat didn’t come in for another 11 seconds.

It was common knowledge that Merion Mercy was loading up its lightweight eight, and the effort paid off with a six-second victory for the gold medal. The Mount St. Joe lights held off a late challenge from Radnor High School to win the silver medal by around two seconds.

The Magic simply crushed it in the second eight final, continuing to gain separation throughout the race to win the gold medal by 10.55 seconds over runner-up Ocean City.

At the end of the afternoon, the Mount varsity eight arrived at the place where it seemed to be heading all spring, winning a gold medal in convincing fashion. For a brief moment alongside the island Ocean City appeared to entertain thoughts of making a move, but the Magic smacked down that challenge and won by six-and-a-half seconds.

The weekend before, the MSJ flagship had put on a respectable performance against the top New England club crews up in Saratoga, New York, and such experience should serve the Magic well as they encounter strong competitors at the Stotesbury Cup Regatta and the scholastic nationals.

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