Greenwich Crew excels at Head of the Charles Regatta

Crews from the Cos Cob-based Greenwich Crew put on a successful display at the recently held 57th Head of the Charles Regatta in Boston.

Greenwich Crew continued to add to its national reputation s by winning five medals across 14 entries.

Defending their first HOCR gold medal in the Men’s 8+ event from last fall and coming off a gold medal at US Rowing Youth National Championships this past spring, the men’s eight of William Drinkall, Maxwell Raabe, Sam Wilson, Max Willott, Marcus Chung, Alex Willott, Harry Waters, Ravi Conway and Elenna Seguin (cox) had their work cut out for them. Competing against a number of other clubs located in the northeast, the Greenwich Crew men’s eight went down the course in a time of 14:23.241, besting the second-place finishers from St. Joseph Prep (Pa.) by 1.5 seconds.

“The guys have been working hard all fall and were really focused on defending their title at the Head of the Charles” men’s varsity coach Cary Wasserman said. “I am super proud of the crew, as well as, our whole team and coaching staff. A regatta as competitive as the Charles is not easy to win two years in a row.”

The Women’s Youth Four of Maddy Sweet, Percy Wayne, Cassidy McKee, Julia Doss and Lidia Dodaro (cox) took the top spot in their race by more than 12 seconds. Finishing ahead of crews from Norcal Crew and Newport (Calif.), the women’s four showed grit and determination. Starting with bow number 12, the Greenwich boat had to pass a number of crews over the three-mile race course.

“The 4+ had a remarkable race, coxswain Lidia Dodaro steered an amazing course and the rowers responded to every call” said co-head women’s coach Catherine Starr.

Adding to the medal count, the Women’s Master Four (40+) brought home Greenwich Crew’s first gold medal in a masters sweep event. The boat of Kendall Atterbury, Elizabeth Pratt, Juliet Brocki, Susannah Mills and Evelyn Woo (cox) finished with a winning margin of 20.436 seconds.

“Last year a slightly different crew finished in second place” said masters coach Darren Gary. “Going into this year’s race, we knew the boat was ready to fight for first place. The rowers and coxswain stepped up to the challenge and their hard work paid off, it’s really great to come home with a gold medal.”

Showing the depth on the junior women’s team, Greenwich put two 8+’s in the top 10 of the Women’s Youth Eight event. Finishing with a silver medal, the crew of Isabella Furman, Phoebe Wise, Catherine Ruff, Mariel Ratner, Adair Beck, Brooke Legenzowski, Lauren Koester, Nicole Urquiaga and France McKenzie (cox) finished just 1.6 second behind the firstplace boat. The crew of Maya Jhamb, Belle Bordier, Chloe Wilkinson, Elizabeth Reid, Ana Sucic, Molly Bidwell, Lara Nguyen, Phelan Bryant and Maxine Prawl (cox) raced to an eighth-place finish.

“In a field of 89 boats, putting two crews in the top 10 shows how deep our team is and how hard each athlete pushes themselves to get better everyday,” said co-head women’s coach Heidi Hunsberger.

Results

Here are the results for the remaining Greenwich boats that raced at the Head of the Charles

Junior Men Men’s Youth Fours 5th place — Brady Zeller, Thomas Fiorito, Nate Ellis, Theodore Ornstein, Sam Jaffe (cox)

11th place — Panagiotis Giannakopoulos, Samuel Woody, Peter Murphey, James Markline, Anna Clark (cox)

Men’s Youth Eights

19th place — Neelam Govindaraj, Felix Dosmond, Michael Hisler, Henry Cullen, Hunter Garcia, Lucas Menin, Nathan Apelgren, Sebastian Estela, Nicholas Walding (cox)

Masters Men’s Senior Veteran/Grand Veteran Singles (70+, 80+)

5th place — Michael Tebay

Men’s Master Fours (40+)

12th place — Robert Jones, Darren Gary, Alex Thomas, Brian Calandro, Sophie Curtis (cox)

Men’s Senior Master Fours (50+)

7th place — Jason Woody, Patrick Kaufer, Marcus Zavattaro, Stefan Pollmann, Estella Zeppelin (cox)

29th place — Andrew Towle, Tolman Geffs, Andrew McEntire, Alan Rifkin, Isabella Leao (cox)

Women’s Senior Master Fours (50+)

27th place — Laura Dobbin, Lane Marmon, Joanna Willott, Sun Yung, Simrin Madia (cox)