This past weekend was a busy and fruitful weekend for the Moorestown Crew team.
On Saturday April 30, the Garden State Scholastic Regatta, better known as the New Jersey State Rowing Championships, was held at Cooper River in Pennsauken.
Cooper River is home to many prestigious national rowing events because the river boasts an ideal 2,000 meter, narrow and sheltered straightaway for racing.
At states, 35 New Jersey teams competed. Two Moorestown boats, the Girls Varsity 8 and Boys Junior Varsity 4, won and were crowned state champions.
The Women’s Varsity 8 went head-to-head with Holy Spirit High School. With 250 meters to go, the girls cranked it up and pulled out the win. On the boat were: Sarah Tenenbaum (coxswain), Claire Wixted, Kristen Van Iderstine, Emily Van Fossen, Sammi Trivinia, Jules Downey, Dani Baskin, Peyton Conrey, and Gabby Martin.
In one of the most exciting races of the day, ending in a photo finish after a 1,500 meter race, the Men’s JV 4 tied with Montclair for first place. That boat consisted of Jack Sencindiver (coxswain) Andrew Hendrickson, Kevin Shaloo, Will Roman, and Matt O’Donnell.
States serves as a qualifier for the National Scholastic High School Rowing Championships, which will be held May 27 28 at Cooper River. By winning states, both boats qualified for nationals.
Two other Moorestown boats had great races on Saturday and finished very strong in fourth place. The Women’s Junior Varsity 8 boat consisting of all sophomores including Erinn Miller (coxswain) Anna Allende, Kaitlin Boyle, Molly Scott, Madeline Schuler, Kristen Munoz, Casey Powell, Rachel Maher and Gabby Danahy. This JV 8 boat went stroke for stroke with Oakcrest Rowing and, in a real nail biter, finished a fourth of a boat length behind the third place Oakcrest.
The Men’s Lightweight 4 boat of Emily Mullin (coxswain), Rohil Shah, Brian Reagan, Will Van Fossen and Jason Goldenberg battled it out with Kearney HS. In the last 100 meters, in a real heart breaker, Moorestown came up short and was edged out for third by Kearney.
The following day back at the Cooper, the team competed in The Cooper Cup. At this regatta, 72 teams from the Mid-Atlantic region raced.
Once again, Moorestown crew showed strong and medalled in four events.
The Women Varsity 8 stroked to a second victory in two days, ahead of local rival Bishop Eustace by four seconds.
The Men’s Lightweight 4 finished first, in a close race beating Saugatuck Rowing Club by eight-tenths of a second. The Women’s JV8, which also rows as a Lightweight 8, includes Lizzie Garrison (coxswain), Katie Stevens, Jessica Buck, Julie Cammerato, Alli Stevens, Scout Brisson, Clara Slight, Alexe Tsao and Sarah Jaraha. They finished first in their heat by nine seconds over St. Andrews School, with a time of 7:24.49.
The Men’s Varsity 4 finished third behind Iona Prep and Fordham Prep, with a time of 6:50.90.
