Norwalk based, Connecticut Boat Club girls only rowing team made a Fall racing schedule switch this year. Instead of attending the Head of the Riverfront in Hartford the team made a day trip down to New Jersey and competed at the Overpeck Fall Classic. This was the first all team regatta this Fall and the girls were ready to compete!
Head Coach Liz Trond entered two singles into the race on Sunday October 6th with team leaders, Sophie Bell and Sophia Dranchack. Earning her 3rd gold medal in the single this Fall season, Team Captain Sophie Bell came in first place. Sophia had a wonderful race and placed in 4th place against some great competitors. The regatta continued with more gold medals for the CBC girls in the Varsity quad race. Gold medalists in this boat that won by 15.8 seconds were Sophia Dranchack, Charlotte Mickelborough, Kate McDonald and Iso McCoy.
The 2nd Varsity quad had a total of 3 boat entries (7 total boats in the race) from CBC and no surprise, CBC swept the podium with the 3 boats that represented the team! In first place was Senior stroke Layla Morris, Lucia Noekker, Gwen Horn and Holly Hulme. Behind Morris’ boat by 1.4 seconds were silver medalists Winnie Wartels, Christina Charnin, Alex Maniatty and bow seat Tanaya Dixit. Rounding out the podium in this 7 boat race were Brooke LeBaron, Leighton Busby, Skye Coats and Noelle Basta.
Trond’s Varsity 4+ (Rowers: Layla Sisca, Sophie Bell, Reagan Weneck and Fili Keszti) was led by senior coxswain, Izzy Khamish. The crew raced this line up for the first time this season earning a Bronze medal in New Jersey behind Montclair A and B boats. Izzy Khamish’s younger sister, Mishi Khamish had her debut as a Novice coxswain in the Novice 8+ boat. Mishi led her crew to a 2 minutes and 30 second win over Montclair and City Island crews. These speedy novices where 8 seat, Camilla Calderwood, Olivia Macaluso (7 seat), Kate Surette (6 seat), Avril MacHale (5 seat), Kate Johnson (4 seat), Caroline Hendrickson (3 seat), Kirsten Borner and Gracie Mickels in bow pair.
CBC had two amazing coxed fours ready to race down the course in the second varsity four event. In first place 8.2 seconds ahead of Montclair A and C crews senior coxswain AJ led her boat to a victory. Kam Morgenstein, Norah Surette, Katie Estabrook and Sophia Kearns were the engine behind this boat! Finishing in fourth place was the teams B boat, coxed by Junior coxswain, Jiah Baak and rowed by Alex Maniatty, Tanaya Dixit, Gwen Horn and Holly Hulme. The Women’s Varsity 8+ was an exciting event where two CBC boats competed and earned podium finishes. AJ led her boat to a silver medal and Izzy led her boat to a bronze medal. AJ’s V8 finished 2 seconds behind first place finisher, Montclair and while Izzy’s U17 8+ finished 6 seconds off of Montclair and 4 seconds off of CBC’s A boat.
In the 2V 8+ event CBC entered another 2 boat scenario like in the 1V 8+ event where one boat was more experienced than the other boat. The older, more experienced crew proved to win again in this event. Junior coxswain Jiah and her crew earned their bronze medal passing several boats in their race and Freshman coxswain, Arwen and her boat mates finished in 4th place. Of note: Arwen and her crew are all U16 athletes!
Michigan commits, Reagan Weneck and Iso McCoy raced together in the 1V doubles event and earned 3rd place hardware to add to their collection! Wilton besties, Kate McDonald and Charlotte Mickelborough brought home gold medals in their 2V doubles race with their 1 minute and 37 seconds win over GMS Rowing. Novices: Mishi, Camilla, Olivia, Kate and Avril jumped back in a boat to round out the racing day for CBC in the Novice 4+ event and they took home another gold medal! In second place was the other half of the Novice 8+ (Kirsten, Kate, Gracie, Caroline) led by Novice coxswain Maddie.
What a spectacular start to the Fall racing season for the entire CBC Squad! Let’s do it again this weekend in our home state of Connecticut at the Head of the Housatonic!
