Saugatuck Rowing Club won four races and qualified seven boats for next month's U.S. Youth Nationals with a strong performance at last weekend's Northeast Regionals on the Merrimack River in Massachusetts.
"We were really happy with how the kids raced this weekend,'' Saugatuck coach Sharon Kriz said. "We knew the boats were moving fast and if we executed as planned we would qualify. But you have to be careful not to be too confident."
The defending national champions in the Boys 2x, Weston's Graham Anderson and Westport's Max Meyer Bosse, won in 6:26.77, followed by GMS Rowing in 6:27.18.
The Boys Lightweight 2x of Easton's Max Malec and Stamford's Marco Grant also won and earned a trip to nationals. They won in 6:36.08, finishing ahead of New Canaan.
The Girls 4x won with Westport's Susan Greenberg, Fairfield's Melly Markovic and Alex Zadravec, and Westport's Louisa Freeman. They clocked in at 6:30.91, followed by GMS Rowing and the Connecticut Boat Club.
The Girls Novice 8+ won with Fairfield's Lily Powers, Westport's Alison Morrison; Olivia Prehodka of Ridgefield; Redding's Christina Johnson and Morgan Macey; Weston's Great Dorsey and Allie Diamond; Darien's Felicity Cain and Kaitlyn McCan of Ridgefield. Novice crews do not advance to nationals.
Meyer-Bosse took second in the Boys 1x to earn a trip to nationals in a second boat. The Boys 8+ also finished second with New Canaan's Greg Zales; Westport's Rem Amadei, Jake Petterson, John Morrison, Alex Vogt and Max Gibson; Weston's Chris Babinec and Jake Esse; and Fairfield's Griffin Traynor.
The Girls Lightweight 8+ qualified for nationals with Fairfield's Sam Powers, Connor Cashel and Marissa Horn; Redding's Georgia Pinter; Westport's May Schumer and Blythe Lewis; Weston's Jo Gurman; and Wilton's Celine Bondoc and Sarah Frear.
The other second place finishers for Saugatuck were the Boys Junior Varsity 4x with Brian Nelson, Nate Morgan, Matthew Parrino and Will Cromwell, and the Girls 2nd Novice 8+. That crew included Emily Clayton, Alison Gurliacci, Michelle Muller, Adena Coste, Annie Eick, Kendall Vogt, Blake Ratner, Erika Zadravec and Charlotte Andrews.
The final boat to qualify for nationals was the Girls Lightweight 2x of Pinter and Gruman. The Boys Junior Varsity 4x also took third with Mitch Wolfe, Bobby Bottone, Alec Lee and Harrison Malec.
The crews raced in difficult conditions caused by rain throughout the week. Races that were not national qualifiers were competed head style.
"There certainly were a few obstacles to deal with this weekend between time delays and water conditions, but I'm really proud of how well everyone stayed focused and reached our goals,'' Kriz said. "We're looking forward to the next couple weeks where we can just put our heads down and train really hard in preparation for Youth Nationals."
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