A talented Crew
Greenwich shines at northeast regionals, nationals up next
Winning eight races, finishing second in eight more and posting three third-place finishes, Greenwich Crew indeed, added to its already expansive collection of medals by flourishing at the 2019 USRowing Northeast Youth Championships recently.
Amassing 1,310 team points, Greenwich Crew won the regatta’s overall team points trophy, the women’s points trophy (720) points and the men’s (590 points) points trophy at the ultra-competitive event held on the Merrimack River in Lowell, Mass.
“It was an amazing weekend, where all of our athletes did an extraordinary job of coming together and achieving their goals,” said Cary Wasserman, who serves as Greenwich Crew’s boys coach. “To see it come to fruition was really special for the entire program.”
By excelling at the Northeast Youth Championships, four of Greenwich Crew’s female boats qualified to compete in the USRowing Youth National Championships. The national regatta is scheduled to be held June 6-9 in Sarasota, Fla. In 2018, Greenwich Crew was well represented at the Youth National Championships, which was held on Lake Natoma in Rancho Cordova, Calif. The women’s lightweight 8+ boat highlighted the program’s achievements at nationals last season, winning the title in their event.
At the Youth National Championships this coming week, Greenwich Crew is sending four women’s boats and three men’s boats to the prestigious regatta.
“Our goal at regionals was to qualify for nationals and on the girls’ side we were able to qualify the varsity 8, the lightweight 8, the varsity 4 and the lightweight 4 to nationals,” said Heidi Hunsberger, who is one of the coaches of the program’s female rowers. “It was really tight, competitive racing all weekend at regionals, which sets us up well for nationals.”
Greenwich Crew’s varsity 8+ boat is comprised of coxswain Molly Lundberg, Lucy Koven, Isabel Wilkowski, Natasha Neitzell, Jessica Hooper, Ellarie Talgo, Olivia Schnur, Katie Turk and Alexa Zavatarro. They rowed to a first-place finish at the Northeast Regionals in a time of 6:14.725, earning them a trip to the Youth Nationals.
The lightweight 8+ crew of Lydia Garnett (coxswain), Darby Loveless, Sophia Gilroy, Maddy Bro
dy, Allison Millspaugh, Harley Marks, Lillian Johnson, Alexandra Wilkowski and Brooke Legenzowski won the women’s 8+ lightweight race at Northeast Regionals, registering a time of 6:33.256 — a finish that put them into Youth Nationals.
Greenwich’s varsity 4+ boat placed second at the Northeast Regional regatta and they too will travel to the Youth National competition. Racing in the boat are Christina Minyo (coxswain), Anna Meurer, Chloe Segal, Anna Brause and Emma Simpson. They finished their race in 7:00.844.
Also qualifying for nationals was Greenwich Crew’s lightweight 4+ boat comprised of Victoria Fu (coxswain), Elle Krywosa, Jenna Brendel, Lilly Adamo and Abby Lucier. They captured the first-place medal at the regional regatta with a time of 7:05.214.
“The girls really came together and made the decision to execute really well,” Hunsberger said. “Our senior class has set the tone for the team and have done it in a fun way, bringing good energy to the team. Our captains and other seniors have stepped up and we have excellent coxswains, who have added an incredible component to our team.”
Some of the other impressive performances that Greenwich Crew’s female rowers produced at the Northeast Regionals included a first-place finish in the women’s novice 8+ race (6:47.242), a second-place showing in the women’s novice 4+ final (7:25.328), a second-place finish in the women’s U17 8+ event (6:27.219) and a winning effort in the women’s second varsity 8+ boat in their event (6:37.180).
In total, the girls squad had five first-place finishes, while finishing second in five races and third in one event.
“We are able to capitalize on the depth that we have as a team,” said Catherine Starr, also one of the program’s female coaches. “We have excellent leadership. Our team started the season strong and we continued to build throughout the season. We have a competitive region, with excellent rowers in the northeast and that has helped us develop our athletes into good racers.”
On the boys’ side, Greenwich Crew won the gold medal in three events at the Northeast Regional regatta, placed second in three other events and had two third-place finishes.
“Almost all of our boats came in first, second, or third, which was really outstanding,” Wasserman said. “In the process, we qualified three boats for nationals.”
In the men’s varsity 8+ race at the regional regatta, Greenwich Crew finished second with a time of 5:45.388. They qualified to appear at the Youth Nationals.
Greenwich’s men’s lightweight 8+ boat also rowed to a second-place finish (6:02.491) at regionals, earning them a spot at nationals. The varsity 4+ boat placed third (6:29.40) qualifying them for the national championships.
“The team is working really hard and they have really come together,” Wasserman said. “They are prepared, energized and very focused and determined to do well. It really shows during their training process.”
Also on the boys’ side, Greenwich Crew’s novice 8 and second novice eight boats raced to first-place finishes (6:11.015, 6:24.623, respectively) and its second varsity eight boat was second (6:07.613).
“We had for the first time, our novice 8 and second novice 8 win their events at regionals, which was awesome to see,” Wasserman said. “We are proud to see those younger guys step up and race so well.”