It's ladies last in fourth Flick regatta

Posted 4/11/16

Mount varsity eight coxswain Lindsay Maiale urges on her rowers as they sprint for the finish line. (Photo by Tom Utescher) by Tom Utescher In the last few regattas in the annual Manny Flick series, …

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It's ladies last in fourth Flick regatta

Posted

Mount varsity eight coxswain Lindsay Maiale urges on her rowers as they sprint for the finish line. (Photo by Tom Utescher) Mount varsity eight coxswain Lindsay Maiale urges on her rowers as they sprint for the finish line. (Photo by Tom Utescher)

by Tom Utescher

In the last few regattas in the annual Manny Flick series, all the boys’ races and all the girls’ races are run consecutively, with a short break in between. Last Sunday it was the boys’ turn to go first, but with temperatures still hovering in the 30’s through much of the morning, the girls didn’t mind having to race in the afternoon.

First up, local rookies excelled in the long boats. In the novice eight, Mount St. Joseph’s “A” boat (Izzy Mina, Maureen McGreevey, Claire Broderick, Harriett Blatney, Aydin McPhilemy, Emily Lubinski, Nora Hogan, McKenna Matthews, Maddy Kerr won the first flight in six minutes and one second, and MSJ “B” (Sofia Bernal, MaryKate Ciolko, Hailey Goodyear, Aine Playdon, Riley Gorman, Eva Timoney, Jess Webb, MollyKate McDonough, Laurel Chung) placed fourth in the same race in 6:22.37, despite catching a crab along the course.

Germantown Academy sent out its eight for the first time this spring, and the crew of Lily Richards (cox), Laura Brown (stroke), Ava Hook, Margaret Horvat, Liv Malen, Brynne DiDonato, Emily Morrissey, Addy Campbell, and Sophie Worrell won the second flight of the novice eight in 6:23.01. All of the crew members are freshmen except for Brown, a senior who just took up the sport. Both of the first two flights were faster races than the third section, which was won by Episcopal Academy in 6:33.

In the specific freshman eight category (all crew members must be ninth-graders), the Mount (5:44.59) was runner-up to Merion Mercy (5:38.30) in the first of three races. The Magic crew of Katie Greed (cox), Julia Woodrow (stroke), Katie Edling, Maddie Niekelski, Eileen McKenna, Bryn McLaughlin, Lauren Kiefner, Shayne McKernan, and Caroline Timoney wound up with the fourth fastest time of all the flights, while Archbishop Carroll (flight three) was quickest overall in 5:35.51.

Among the junior varsity fours, Mount St. Joe’s “A” boat (Abby Schwenger, Sam Altomare, Karsen Healy, Kerry Faust, Christie Faust) performed impressively, winning the first flight in 6:01.30, the fastest time out of all 30 boats entered in this category.

The Magic’s “B” vessel (Angela LaCorte, Jen DeGroat, Rebecca Patti, Julia Flynn, Aileen Mansfield) raced in a different flight, coming in third in 6:30.65.

A little earlier, in the first flight of the JV double, Strath Haven High School (6:31.10) separated from the pack, but Germantown Friends and Springside Chestnut Hill Academy had a relatively close finish. Lily Zukin (stroke) and Sydney Slavitt of GFS secured the runner-up spot in 6:48.84, while SCH’s Jessica Penn (stroke) and Eliza Brody were third in 6:52.04.

There were a number of area entries sprinkled through the three flights of the JV quad. The fastest time of this bunch was the 6:18.55 turned in by SCH’s Sofia Djerassi (stroke), Mia Humphreys, Paige Aloise, and Grace Tasman, who placed fourth in the first heat and ended up with the fifth-best time overall. First in heat three and sixth in time (6:27.55) was the “B” boat for the GA Patriots, which contained Lindsay Naber (stroke), Rachel Kliger, Mikayla Fassler, and Elizabeth Wescott.

Penn Charter, with Madeline Whitehead (stroke), Julie Webb, Maria Perry, and Emma Grugan, placed fifth behind SCH in the first flight and logged a number-seven time of 6:30.61. Ninth in overall time (6:49.23) and third in the second flight was Germantown Academy “A”, powered by Emma Rapp (stroke), Grace Loughlin, Julia McKernan, and Katie Hallahan.

Rapid changes in the speed and direction of winds out on the river rendered small differences in race times from flight-to-flight relatively insignificant in all categories.

Still, there was no arguing that North Jersey’s Montclair High School didn’t bring down a very fast JV eight. They won the third flight in 4:45.20, while the second race proved the slowest overall and the first flight was won by Mount St. Joe’s. The Magic (Shannon LoStracco, Brayslin Gallagher, Celene Mina, Sam Cordero, Michelle Lipovsky, Cathryn Antonacio, Olivia Snakard, Gabi Natale, Emma Veon) dueled with New Jersey’s Holy Spirit High School, prevailing in 5:32.58 over their Absecon opponents (5:35.97).

In the first of the lightweight divisions, the Penn Charter double containing Sharon Zea-Rincon (stroke) and Anna Pogrebivsky placed third in the first section in 6:40.61, a figure not too far removed from Agnes Irwin’s winning time of 6:37.80 in the second flight.

In the lightweight four, the best overall time (6:08.55) assured a victory in the opening flight for Mount St. Joseph’s Olivia Kylander (cox), Paige Comtois (stroke), Maddy Sandquist, Maddie Curran, and Emma French.

Germantown Friends was third in the single flight of the lightweight quad, where Maya Esberg (stroke), Katie Maguire, Sam Pancoe, and Becca Genyk hit the wire in 6:30.66.

GFS senior Addie McKenzie continued her winning ways in the varsity single, easily capturing first place in the opening flight by 16 seconds with her time of 6:58.35. The second section of the event introduced a new arrival on the singles scene, as GA dispatched senior Katie Aemisegger on a solo mission. Aemisegger, who signed with Syracuse last fall, left her competition far astern as she clocked in at 6:00.60.

Back in the second Manny Flick, Penn Charter junior stroke Kelsey White and senior bowseat Sally Stanley had posted the fastest overall time in the varsity double, but last weekend they were edged out in the first flight by a Conestoga High School tandem, 6:17.80 to 6:19.43. Another four seconds back were Springside Chestnut Hill’s Amanda Miller (stroke) and Gabby Sciarrotta, placing third in the same race.

The second section, somewhat slower, was won handily in 6:36.80 by GA’s Nina Tang (stroke) and Bri Owen, while the third flight featured a leisurely winning time of 7:04.

In the first varsity quad race, Conestoga put up the fastest overall winning time of 5:54.34, and Springside Chestnut Hill was the runner-up in 6:07.02 with a quartet consisting of Emma Lutz (stroke), Hope Lee, Grace Youngren, and Lisa Burckhardt. The top two boats in the other flight turned in times in between those of ‘Stoga and the Blue Devils.

The first varsity boat for the Mount to descend the Schuylkill was the varsity four (Kathleen Brooks, Brianna McBride, Grace Sowa, Liz DeGroat, Anna Gallagher), which placed second in its flight at 6:24.92, a time which landed the Magic among the top half-dozen competitors in a field of 21.

The Mount had not appeared in the lightweight eight or the second eight events. Instead, the Magic made multiple entries in the varsity eight class, one in each of the three flights. Mount St. Joseph “B” was actually the lightweight eight (Emily Woodrow, Julia Comerford, Vicki Matsinger, Shannon Hughes, Erica Arnold, Molly Whalen, Brooke Gimaro, Katelin Cordero, Rachel Sandquist) and MSJ “C” was the regular two-vee (Maddie Walsh, Grace Little, Demi Simms, Olivia Tice-Carroll, Julianna Hunt, Dana Mischler, Mia Fitzpatrick, Brooke McMahon, Zoe Ramos).

First to race, though, was the true varsity eight, staffed by Lindsey Maiale (cox), Erin McGreevey (stroke), Christina Knox, Grace Comerford, Maddie Lauinger, Alex Natale, Maddie Carlton, Cait Hagan, and Alex Uzzo.

Merion Mercy made a move on the Mounties with a few hundred meters to go, and the Magic had to continue to fend off the Golden Bears right up to the finish line, winning in 5:22.10 to Merion’s 5:22.87.

Although their time was slower, the lightweights in MSJ “B” won the second flight by a much wider margin over Philadelphia City Rowing, 5:28.96 to 5:41.00. Mount C’s time was only a little off the “B” boat’s mark, at 5:29.30, but the rebadged second eight finished as runner up in the third flight to the fastest boat overall, Montclair High School (5:19.20). It’ll be interesting to see if the Magic’s top boat goes head-to-head against the North Jersey crew in the last of the 2016 Flick races this coming weekend.

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