No place like home
Niagara crews win 18 of 36 gold medals at Canadian high school rowing championships
Crews from Niagara combined to win 43 of the 108 medals awarded on the final day of the Canadian Secondary Schools Rowing Association (CSSRA) Championships.
Pacing the procession to the podium and defending their men’s and women’s team championships were the E.L. Crossley Cyclone.
A total of 124 teams took part in the three-day international competition on Martindale Pond in St. Catharines, with the Pelham high school the only one to finish in double digits in the medal standings.
Crossley won 16 medals overall — nine gold, four silver and three bronze.
Toronto’s Branksome Hall and Saratoga, from upstate New York, placed second overall with six medals each, one more than Grimsby, which won three gold and two silver medals, and Ridley College, which won two gold, two silver and a bronze.
Sir Winston Churchill, which earned a silver to go along with three bronze, won four medals overall to finish third among high schools from the region.
Four-year E.L. Crossley rower Evelyn Bianchin
Saint Michael, which advanced two boats to the finals and set the pace in both; Eden, gold, silver; and Governor Simcoe, silver, bronze; finished with two medals apiece.
St. George’s from Vancouver beat Ridley by open water in the senior men’s eight for the Calder Cleland Memorial Trophy in the marquee race of the 36-event competition.
All the finals took place in rapidfire fashion on a Sunday that for much of the morning had regatta organizers keeping their fingers crossed and wondering whether they would have to outrace thunderstorms forecast to hit the region early in the afternoon.
“Right now, they’re saying it’s going to be here at noon, not 1 o’clock,” a regatta official said, checking the weather app on her cellphone.
The sun, front and centre for the first two days of the regatta, finally broke through shortly after noon and, despite a northwesterly wind that gusted to 20 km/ h at times, it was smooth sailing after that.
Home-course hopefuls didn’t begin striking gold until the fourth race, with coxswain Ainsley Campbell leading Crossley crewmates Emma Leavens, Kora Masse, Krista Zucco and Jenna Veerman to victory in the junior women’s coxed four.
That gold win was the perfect ending to the Crossley experience.”
It was Grimsby’s turn in the spotlight two races later, with Grace Humphrey placing first in the senior women’s 63-kilogram single.
Her victory began a remarkable run of eight pace-setting performances for crews from the region.
Like the rest of the six-boat field, the Grade 11 student exploded from the starting gate in the “very competitive race,” but she wasn’t worried about expending all of her energy before the final push in the 2,000-metre event.
“I did a lot of prep leading up to the race on how to pace myself, so I don’t burn out early on,” said Humphrey, who won a bronze in a quad at the CSSRA championships last year.
Grimsby didn’t have long wait for its second gold. Humphrey barely had time to row back to Henley Island when a junior men’s 72-kg coxed four of coxswain Isaiah Yoder, Michael Bilodeau, Christian McAlpine, Max Caruso and Ryan Holland landed the Eagles in the winner’s circle.
After that, Crossley’s Evelyn Bianchin, coxswain; Lauryn Bench, Amber Drysdale, Meghan Camplin, Melanie Lachnit Kieley, Olivia Bruin, Ashlynn Wilson and Lauren Dudzik led Branksome Hall and Churchill across the finish line in the senior women’s 63-kg eight.
The 72nd edition of the CSSRA Regatta marked the end of the Bianchin’s four-year rowing career with the Cyclone.
“That gold win was the perfect ending to the Crossley experience,” said Bianchin, who is going on the row at Nipissing University on an academic scholarship.
She said rowing’s impact on her life wasn’t limited to training and competing on the water.
“It definitely showed me leadership skills, and that will help with my program next year,” said Bianchin, who intends to study concurrent education at the North Bay university.
Gold in the junior men’s single was Evan MacRae’s first medal in two years competing for Myer at the prestigious regatta that is held annually on the Royal Canadian Henley Course. MacRae decided to “go for it” when he found himself in second late in the race.
“I said to myself, ‘This is the last 250 of the year here, get going,’” MacRae said. “I made a move on him and took it home.”
While had enough left in the tank to hoist the trophy twice for photographers, the Grade 10 student said he left everything on the course.
“That’s was purely adrenalin,” he said with a laugh, catching his breath. “I’m gassed.”
Following are the other Niagara crews that ended the school rowing season with gold medals at the Canadian championships: Junior women’s double: Isabelle
Frolick, Hailey Mercuri, Grimsby. Senior men’s 66-kg coxed
four: Kennedy Keith, coxswain; Kevin Keith, Alex Barnes, Joshua Lenson, Jacob Combe, Brandon Dorazio, Crossley.
Senior women’s quad: Emily Stewart, Anna Maloney, Katrina Verbraeken, Oliva Reynolds, Saint Michael. Junior men’s 66-kg coxed
four: Daniel Ephrat, coxswain; Nike Schramm, Johann Maass, James Shaw, Adam Klestil, Ridley. Senior men’s 72-kg double:
Sam Court, Ethan Enns, Ridley. Junior men’s single: Steven Rosts, Eden. Senior women’s 63-kg double: Lauryn Bench, Rebecca Camplin, Crossley. Senior women’s 63-kg coxed
four: Sophia Buzzell, coxswain; Julia Labricciosa, Peyton Learn, Kaelen Partridge, Amber Drysdale, Crossley.
Senior men’s quad: Neil Kennedy, Alex Jastremski, Noah McDonald, Chris Rusin, Crossley. Senior men’s 72-kg coxed four:
Kennedy Keith, coxswain; Graeme McKinley, Lynden Whitley, Fraser
Darling, Alex Barnes, Crossley. Senior women’s 59-kg coxed
four: Sophia Buzzell, coxswain; Rebecca Camplin, Peyton Learn, Julia Labricciosa, Kaelen Partridge, Crossley.
Junior men’s 72-kg eight: Dawson McQueen-Lafleut, coxswain; Joey Natale, Timothy Ritchie, Braiden Jacques, Matthew Diraddo, Owen Darling, Jacob Gula, Andrew Suthons, Nick Longo, Crossley.
Senior women’s double: Emily Stewart, Anna Maloney, Saint Michael.
Notes: Julia Labricciosa’s sister Sofia ended the high school track and field season with two medals as well. She earned silver in the midget girls 300 hurdles and bronze in the midget girls 400 at the Ontario championships in Belleville … Three-time Canadian Olympic winner Silken Laumann — bronze, 1984; bronze, 1992; silver, 1996 — was on hand to present medals to, among others, a senior women’s coxed four from Brentwood College School in Mill Bay, B.C., that featured her daughter Kate in the stroke seat ... In that same boat was an athlete who competed with a torn meniscus in her right knee.