The Connecticut Boat Club girls took on windy West Windsor New Jersey this weekend. The team raced in The Mercer Lake Sprints 2 day long regatta and came home with some hardware early in the weekend. For the novices it was the first ‘real’ regatta following some scrimmages earlier in the season but they proved to know exactly what they were doing. Mishi Khamish lined her Novice 8+ boat and raced hometown river neighbor, Maritime Rowing Club down the course. Her rowers were fearless and took the lead finishing with a large gap of 5 seconds ahead and a second place finish in her heat. This 8+ was stroked by Layla Sisca, Wilton Junior Lauren Ring (7 seat), Camilla Calderwood (6 seat), Emily Barnes (5 seat), Caitlyn Getty (4 seat), Sienna Hoyos (3 seat), Charlotte Reynolds (2 seat) and Noelle Basta in bow!
Layla Sisca also stroked our Novice 4+ where she was supported by a boat of 16 year old teammates, Katie Estabrook in 3 seat, Alexandria Maniatty in 2 seat and Sophia Kearns in bow. AJ Kompiewska, Norwalk High School Junior steered the girls to victory (spoiler alert!) in her first season at CBC. AJ, former rower herself transitioned to take the wheel after a back injury in the winter with her former club. In this race, her boat finished with the fastest time in the event: 7:23.25 meaning that second place time held by Row America Rye was 7:30.99 and Greenwich Crew was 7:31.27. The girls enjoyed the racing experience and certainly learned a ton about what it takes to win.
CBC raced a third novice event, Novice quad which is an event where the bow seat does the rowers job plus the coxswains job (as there is no physical coxswain in this category). As racing conditions weren’t ideal, the novice quad stroked by Melaina Kenin, 3 seat Gwen Horn, 2 seat Layla Sisca, and bow seat Holly Hulme. There were 3 heats for this category on Saturday. CBC’s Novice 4x came in 4th in their heat and overall had a faster time than 4 other crews in the category!
The racing continued to the Varsity boats, starting with the Varsity 8+ race. Coxswain Izzy Khamish led her crew down a great heat on Saturday, finishing 2nd in their heat! The finals race for this boat was on Sunday where Senior leader Callaghan Nickerson stroked, supported by Caroline Krantz (7 seat), Annika Nelson (6 seat), Sophie Bell (5 seat), Charlotte Maschoff (4 seat), Lila Seidenberg (3 seat), Audrey Sears (2 seat), and Ava Weneck (bow seat) competed in the A final battling down the course in a seat for seat race with PNRA Mercer. CBC lost the battle by 1 second but had a great performance!
CBC 2V8+ coxed by Freshman Allison Murray had some tricks up their sleeve. On Saturday they gave the fans a lot to cheer about with their 1st place finish in their heat and then on Sunday they also battled PNRA Mercer closely down the course but took the lead in front of them finishing with a time of 7:04.62 and PNRA Mercer with a time of 7:06.15. This crew is a great mix of upperclassman and younger girls all learning and improving each day! The line up was, Iso McCoy (8 seat), Miya Lee (7 seat), Maddy Dodge (6 seat), Sylvia Freidenrich (5 seat), Ellie Lennon (4 seat), El Arnold (3 seat), Reagan Weneck (2 seat) and Charlotte Mickelborough (bow seat).
Caroline Krantz and Callaghan Nickerson both led the Varsity 4+ this weekend. Callaghan stroked the 4+ in the heat to a first place finish, securing the boat to compete in the A final on Sunday! The stern 4 of the V8+ raced the final with Krantz at stroke and had a strong race in lane 5, in close contact with second place finisher Saugatuck and ahead of Greenwich Crew, Blair, Whitemarsh Boat Club. The U17 quad gained a lot of racing experience in their first time down the course together, Tanaya Dixit (4 seat), Christina Chernin (3 seat), Nicole Busby (2 seat), Katherine Martel’s (bow seat) finished with a time of 8:10.80. Connecticut’s 2V4+ came in with a 3rd place finish ahead of Whitemarsh Boat Club, Lawrenceville, and Litchfield Hills.
The womens Varsity quad event was one of CBC’s strongest this weekend. In their heat, Lila (stroke), Reagan (3 seat), Ava (2 seat) and Charlotte (bow) dominated with a 3 second lead on 2nd place finisher, Narragansett. Securing their invitation to the A final on Sunday, they had a thrilling race to wrap up this event! The crew worked hard for their silver medals (1 second off from being gold medals!) against some very strong sculling programs. 3 seat Reagan shared, “This race was thrilling and a very rewarding experience! Despite the far from ideal rowing conditions, my crew had a terrific race as we had a strong start, and walked through a boat directly to the left of us, securing the second place spot in an extremely close sprint to the finish. It was so much fun to race that boat collectively with some of my closest friends, and my sister right behind me!”
On Sunday in a final only race, the pairs at CBC represented the club well! Callaghan Nickerson and Sophie Bell kicked off the day for the River Rats by finishing 3rd in their heat, a healthy 4 second gap between 4th place finisher, Whitemarsh Boat Club. In the last heat CBC had the other half of the winning Head of the Charles crew, Caroline Krantz and Annika Nelson who finished first in their heat and won a gold medal for having the fastest time amongst everyone in the event!
Next up was the Varsity 4- race where senior leader and Class President, Charlotte Volz stroked the boat to a 2nd place finish! She was supported by CBC Captain Charlotte Maschoff, Ellie Lennon and Miya Lee. Miya commented, “We had a solid start and were within the top 3 right away. We kept our composure through the rocky cross-trail wind and wake. Everyone in my boat stepped up to the task of supporting each other and moving the dial during this race.”
Wrapping up the racing on Sunday, the girls raced in 2 final events (I mean no surprise they raced in 97% of all female events this weekend!) Jiah coxed the U17 8+ boat to a 3rd place finish! The racing conditions were not conditions that the team experiences much on the Norwalk River but regardless, they rose to the challenge and competed. The crew finished 10 seconds ahead of Row New Jersey and 14 seconds ahead of Saugatuck Rowing Club. The 2V 2x race was another great experience for the team as the crew finished 3rd in their heat (3 seconds off of 2nd place finisher) ahead of hometown river neighbors, Maritime Rowing and Norwalk River Rowing.
Congratulations to all crews! CBC is excited to race again this upcoming weekend at The Saratoga Invitational!
