Sports
It’s crunch time for Greenwich Crew

May 16, 2008

During Sunday%u2019s St. Luke%u2019s regatta, the Greenwich Crew First Varsity-8 boat of, from left, Alex Hagen, Ken Kanek, Andrew Reswow, Chris Parker, Gustav Rydevik, Greg Oudheusden and Nick Hoffmann race towards the finish line.

Not that they needed it, but last weekend the Greenwich High School crew team gained a boatload of confidence heading into Sunday’s Connecticut Public School Rowing Association championships.

In what was a very busy weekend on the water, the Greenwich Crew teams competed Saturday at the Glastonbury Invitational and 24 hours later at the St. Luke’s Invitational, picking up first place honors in both events.

“This weekend was important because the kids are actually very hopeful and excited state going into the last week of practice,” boys head coach Chris Cabrera said. “Around now, things are a little hectic and the nerves start to build up, but after coming off such a successful weekend, the kids are super excited to get on the water for this last week and now it’s reality that they could possibly take home that team points trophy that we’ve been fighting for.”

“This was an opportunity to race more Connecticut schools, which we haven’t had much of a chance to do this year,” girls head coach Nate Young said. “After the past two days we feel better about the state championships now. I think this weekend was a real confidence booster for us.”

The Glastonbury Invitational was important for Greenwich, as the teams that participated in the regatta, Rye, Avon, Xavier, Lewis Mills and host Glastonbury, all will be at Sunday’s CPSRA championships.

“It’s definitely a confidence booster for all the kids,” Director of Rowing Ashlee Branan said. “We expect them to all do well on Sunday, so competing so well in Glastonbury really helped the team.”

In the women’s varsity-8 boat, the Greenwich boat of Alex Higbee, Kristen Lunder, Erin Cauley, Lottie Galliano, Riley Johnson, Daisy Finley, Tatiana Cooke, Patty Suquilanda and Megan Lenihan took first place with a time of 4:41.08.

The women’s second varsity-8 boat also found top honors, as the group of Kerry Gilder, Ashley Rhodes, Melody Kim, Peggy Lees, Hannah Johnson, Despina Petsagourakis, Jordan Lupo, Isabelle Goossens and Claire Kelly finished with a time of 5:26.31. Not to be outdone was the women’s first freshman-8 boat, as Glaura Paiva, Lara Tiramani, Hannah Lees, Abigail Frey, Maria Lycouris, Alexandra Lynn, Heather Oudheusden, Julie Sussman and Julia Galbier finished first out of four boats with a time of 5:02.1.





The Greenwich men’s team had five boats take top honors in Glastonbury as well. The men’s varsity-8 boat led the way, as the group of Alex Hagan, Nick Hoffmann, Ken Kaneko, Greg Oudheusden, Chris Parker, Andrew Reswow, Greg Riddell, Gustav Rydevik and Juliana Collamer took top honors with a time of 4:19.04. Out of five boat, the men’s second varsity-8 boat of Matt Lonski, Nick Stewart, Francisco Beltramino, Tucker Risman, Jason Blom, Zachary Wright, Jonathan Donald, Leighton Moskowitz and Liz Miller placed first with a time of 4:33.36.

Everything came up Greenwich in the men’s third varsity-8 race. Fielding two boats, Greenwich’s boat of Jonathan Donald, Andrew Johnson, Matt Lowe, Brian Miller, Matt Pluta, Christian Rosier, Andy Sussman, Juan Urquiola and Sammie Lazar finished first overall (4:42.61), while the boat of Chris Gioffre, Colin Peake, Oliver Bashan, Constantine Lycouris, Philip Chew, James Finn, Aidan Pagnani, Matthew Hegarty and Amanda Rosa di Santa took second overall (4:47.19).

Greenwich’s freshmen boats placed first as well. In the men’s first freshman-8, the team of Mike Thai, John Cofer, Deryck Whiteford, Sebastian Meyer, Sam Hagan, Bruno Vacarrezza, Peter Cooke and Charlie Taggart took first with a time of 3:59.62.

The men’s second freshman-8 boat of Miguel Amigot, Mitchell Joseph, Kyle Clark, Juan Cespedes, Peter Ingallinera, Christian Meskers, Henry Fox, Eric DeRiemer and Jose Cerrilla netted first also with a time of 4:51.47.

Cabrera said that the way the Glastonbury Invitational was set up was just what both the Greenwich boys and girls teams needed. Instead of just the coaches interacting with the rowers, the parents were there as well showing their support.

“The parents were at the same spot as the kids all day and the kids were able to feed off the support of the parents,” Cabrera said. “It showed the kids how much support they really have and how much backing they have. Now they know they got the backing of so many people and that also gives them a nice boost of confidence. It was special to see the kids come off the water and immediately get congratulated by their parents, as opposed to being separated from the parents and just hearing about it in the paper or getting a letter of congratulations.”

In an event closer to home, the St. Luke’s Regatta, which was raced on the Norwalk River, Greenwich dominated both the boys and girls events. The boys took first place in the men’s varsity-8, second varsity-8, freshman varsity-8 and freshman varsity-4. The girls team took top honors in the women’s varsity-8 and second varsity-8 competitions.

Up next for Greenwich crew is the Connecticut Public School Racing Association championships Sunday morning on Lake Waramaug in New Preston.

The event, a 1,500-meter course, will be run tournament-style, with the semifinals in the morning and the finals in the afternoon.

“The team title is within reach,” Branan said. “We have one of the strongest programs in terms of participation in the state and we would like to perform as well as we can to get the Emerson Cup points trophy.”

© Copyright 2008 by Hersam Acorn Newspapers