2023 Head of the Charles Champions

Dreams do come true! On Sunday October 22, 2023 Norwalk River based Women’s rowing team, Connecticut Boat Club won their second Head of the Charles first place trophy. The first gold medal win for the team was in the Fall of 2011 with a strong Women’s Youth 4+. This year the club raced four boats in a variety of categories, of which winning the prestigious first place trophy in the Women’s Youth Four’s category.

Women’s Youth Four A Boat: Bow 4 finished in 1st place (90 boats raced)

Women’s Youth Four B Boat: Bow 70 finished in 21st place (90 boats raced)

Women’s Youth Coxed Quad: Bow 31 finished in 10th place (50 boats raced)

Women’s Under 17 Four: Bow 6 finished in 22nd place- due to a penalty (26 boats raced)

Assistant Coach, Cass Bruins shared her thoughts on the day, “All of the HOCR crews truly exceeded expectations. They trained hard, and came together to put up the best races they possibly could have- and I’m super proud of them. Having two young Novice coxswains was daunting going in, but they (and the Varsity coxswains) executed the course beautifully. I’m stoked to say that CBC’s competitive dial was turned up a few notches this weekend, and it’s going to continue to do so as the year progresses.”

It is unique to race the same line up two years in a row, but that is what CBC did in the 4+ A boat. Callaghan Nickerson (stroke seat), Caroline Krantz (3 seat), Annika Nelson (2 seat), and Sophie Bell (bow seat) returned with a mission to win the Head of the Charles after placing 4th place last year. The 4 athletes shared, “We have worked all year on accomplishing this goal. We were always reminded that this would be our last time racing HOCR together and that was our biggest motivation. Crossing the finishing line we felt joy and excitement. We knew we did well because we passed two crews in the first mile but we didn’t know we won. When we found out we won we felt nothing but happiness and a sense of accomplishment, what we had dreamed of and worked so hard for payed off.” The crew won the race by 14 seconds and competed against 89 other crews.

The gold medalists raved about their fearless coxswain, Izzy Khamish (11th grade Varsity Coxswain). “Izzy kept us in the perfect line to get us ahead. Each call she made about walking on the boats got us more motivated. There was a lot of pressure on Izzy the entire race but at one bridge there were three boats approaching and Izzy communicated to us that we had to make a move now and of course we responded well to that.”

CBC’s 4+ B boat had an incredible race as well. Starting Bow 70 and caught up to Bow 62 (passing 5 boats). Ava Weneck senior leader (2 seat of the boat) expressed what an incredible race it was from start to finish. The boat also consisted of Sylvia Freidenrich another strong powerhouse senior leader sat in 3 seat, Junior leaders, Isobel McCoy stroked the boat and Charlotte Mickelborough bowed the 4+. Allison Murray (Varsity Coxswain) dominated the course in her first time down the Charles River!

Jillian Chlebowski, Varsity Coxswain steered the 10th place finish for CBC’s Coxed Quad event. Chlebowski commented, “This was my second time racing The Charles, starting in the second half almost helped our boat out more because we had more boats to look forward to and to hunt down throughout the race. We passed 3 boats on the course and closed in on the 4th boat in the final sprint. Crossing the finish line was so great and I could tell that everyone had worked the hardest that they could’ve, it wasn’t perfect but every rower gave it all they had.” This all senior boat was coxed by Jillian, stroked by Audrey Sears, Charlotte Maschoff in 3 seat, Maddy Dodge in 2 seat and bowed by Miya Lee.

Connecticut Boat Club’s final race of the day was the U17 coxed four. Jiah Baak (coxswain), Layla Sisca (stroke), Norah Surette (3 seat), Reagan Weneck (2 seat) and Leighton Busby (bow seat) took on this fun and challenging category. “I’m a high school freshman and it was my first time racing The Charles”, said Leighton Busby. She continued, “The traffic on the river was crazy. We were a little shaken because earlier in the race we were gaining on a boat and as we passed, our oars clashed badly and cost us some speed. When we came off the water we regained our confidence after talking to Coach Liz about the race and the experience.”

It was a day to remember in CBC history. Head Coach, Liz Trond leads an elite level team. CBC is looking forward to next year’s 59th Head of the Charles race. Interested in learning more about CBC and rowing in general? Please visit our website for more information: ctboatclub.org


Bonjour CBC Pair

After winning Northeast Regionals and USRowing Nationals, the CBC pair had the opportunity to participate in a National Team trial event allowing them to earn their spot in the U19 World Rowing Championships. The dynamic duo, Annika Nelson (bow) and Caroline Krantz (stroke) took the trial by storm. The pair finished their National Team trial with a speedy time of 7:35 (they won Nationals by open water with a time of 7:46). Nelson shared, “Going into trials we were nervous and didn’t have high expectations because we knew our time from Nationals and that was very far off from the time standard that we needed to qualify for Junior World’s. In our Trial final we raced as hard as we could and surprised ourselves with what we were capable of and how well we could race. Even though it has been weeks, it is still setting in that we have qualified to go to Paris!”

This is the 20th consecutive summer that Liz Trond (CBC Head Coach) has put an athlete on the U19 World Rowing Championship Team. Trond has led an incredible career of coaching in Connecticut and continues to reach new heights for Women’s Rowing year after year. “Caroline and Annika have worked extremely hard with a really great attitude and a lot of fun over the past 4 years. They are truly a joy to coach and I can’t wait to coach them through the world championship” Trond expressed with excitement and honor. The Junior World Rowing Championship will be home to the test event for the 2024 Olympics. Trond has participated in the magic of Olympic test events in the past such as the one that took place in Rio de Janeiro.

Pair stroke, Caroline Krantz added, “We’ve been working so hard in the pair for the last year and a half, but also have had this dream since Novice year to get to where we are today. It didn’t feel real until we got to the dock after the time trial and Liz gave us a hug. We realize that this opportunity is incredible and we may never get this opportunity again so we are training really hard to represent CBC and USA in Paris.” Krantz holds duel citizenship with the United States and France, at the conclusion of her and Annika’s time trial she called her mom to share the news. “My mom started crying when I called her and shared that we qualified for World’s. My mom is a French immigrant and to have the opportunity to go back to the country that she is from as a strong American family, representing the United States means the world to her. This is a big moment for sure!”

Annika has always had aspirations of earning her seat on the National Team. The racing in Paris will be Annika’s first time racing overseas and she feels that it is even more special that she will get to race with Caroline as they have known each other each other since 5th grade.

We wish this hard-working pair the BEST of luck in Paris! Racing will take place from August 2-6.

#goCBC #goUSA


CBC Wins 11th USRowing National Championship Title

Congratulations are in order for the 12 CBC athletes that represented the club with tons of pride at the 2023 USRowing National Championship Regatta. The girls had 3 days full of racing, ice baths, laughs and Florida sunshine!

All three CBC boats (2-,4x,4x+) raced outstanding races in both their heat and semi final’s earning them a ticket to the A final (2-) and the B finals (4x, 4x+). Our U16 coxed quad kicked off finals racing on Saturday June 10th finishing 3rd in their B final (11th in the nation). It was all 5 athletes first trip to Nationals and we are so proud of them! Way to go Allison (coxswain), Kam (stroke seat), Winnie (3 seat), Norah (2 seat) and Leighton (bow seat).

On Sunday morning our 2- Caroline (stroke seat) and Annika (bow seat) became National Champions!! Winning the 2- category with a final time of 7:46 they officially were proclaimed undefeated on the Sarasota Nationals race course in 2023. This win marks the 11th USRowing National Championship that CBC has won. Huge congratulations to Caroline and Annika who practice/race with so much passion and dedication.

CBC’s 4x raced in an exciting photo finisher. The girls, Audrey (stroke seat), Charlotte (3 seat), Callaghan (2 seat) and Maddie (bow seat) raced in some of the weekend’s most thrilling races and their B final was no exception. The quad placed 6th (.7 seconds from 3rd place) in their final! This was the first regatta in which this line up had raced all season. We are so proud of how they demonstrated our CBC core values on and off the course all weekend.

Miya was our powerhouse spare, willing and capable of rowing both sweep and scull. She was an outstanding teammate and a tremendous part of the teams success! You are amazing Miya.

CBCers will head back to headquarters and gear up for summer 2023 rowing!

#GOCBC


2023 Northeast Regional Championship

Worchester Massachusetts hosted the Northeast Regional Championship this year. CBC raced in both sweep and sculling categories allowing for all athletes to have the opportunity to race! All CBC boats advanced to finals racing on Sunday where our pair, Caroline Krantz and Annika Nelson kicked off racing. Finishing in first place ahead of two Greenwich boats, Naugatuck, Wayland-Weston and Concord crews. This first place finished earned them an invitation to the Youth Nationals Championship!

Our coxed four had a strong race with a photo finish (Belle Howell, Callaghan Nickerson, Karolina Bukowski, Charlotte Maschoff, Ava Weneck). We were so proud of our senior leader, Belle for coxing the 4+ down the course and motivating her boat at all times. Later in the morning CBC qualified its second Nationals contenting boat the youth quad. The quad had a fantastic race finishing 1 second shy of 3rd place and 2 seconds away from 2nd place! It was a very exciting race to watch with Audrey Sears stroking, Riley Clavi, Ellie Lennon, and Maddie Dodge in bow. Our youth 4- had us all cheering very loudly in the last 250m as the girls were trying to pull ahead of the Westford Academy boat, and ultimately they successfully did! The 4- finished 5th ahead of Westford Academy after a great run down the course (Charlotte Volz, Sylvia Freidenrich, Sophie Bell and Miya Lee). 

Racing continued with our U16 4x+ (Coxswain: Allison Murray and Rowers: Winnie Wartels, Leighton Busby, Norah Surette, Kamryn Morgenstern) finishing 26 second ahead of the 4th place boat and just 5 seconds behind the second place finisher. The U16 4x+ will have the opportunity to represent CBC at The Youth National Championship Regatta! CBC’s Youth 2nd 4+ finished 5th in what was a very sunny race. The boat consisted of 2 seniors stroke seat Ally Colavecchio and Mel Royaee and 3 sophomores, Coxswain Izzy Khamish, Kate MacDonald and Charlotte Mickelborough.

CBC’s novice eight had an amazing semi final race on Saturday where they raced hard and learned a ton(including how to really sprint and walk on another boat)! On Sunday, they had another great race and ultimately finished with a time of 7:43. Allison Murray coxed the boat down the course. The eight rowers were, Jiah Baak, Tara Slovinski, Bridget Fitzgerald, Sara Alfieri, Melaina Kenin, Lucia Noecker, Kamryn Morgenstern, and Sarah Morris. As the racing started to wrap up it was our strong Youth 2nd 4x and Novice 4+ that concluded the racing for CBC! 

Elle Arnold, Lila Seidenberg, Erin Getty and Jill Chlebowski represented CBC in a finals race with a lot of enthusiasm. The girls 4x finished in 5th place. Our final race of the day was our Novice 4+ race with coxswain Jiah Baak leading the boat down the course! The 4 novice rowers were, Winnie Wartels, Melaina Kenin, Lucia Noecker and Norah Surette. In this race CBC finished in 5th place ahead of Saugatuck’s 4+. 

Congratulations to all of our student athletes for working so hard on and off the course this season!! We are so proud of you all!

BEST OF LUCK at Nationals to our pair, U16 coxed quad and youth quad.


2022 Head of the Fish

Connecticut Boat Club rowers had a successful weekend at the 2022 Head of the Fish regatta in Saratoga Springs NY. The weather was perfect and CBC took home medals in a number of events.

Medals
U17 4+ – 2nd
U17 2x – 2nd
2V4+ – 3rd
U19 1x – 3rd
Nov 4+ – 3rd

You can view the Sunday results here.


CBC Rowers Medal at 2022 Head of the Charles

connecticut boat club head of charles 2022 medal

The Connecticut Boat Club brought home a medal from the 2022 Head of the Charles Regatta in Boston on October 23, 2022. CBC medaled in the Women’s Youth 4+ race (that included 90 entries). The boat, coxed by Isabell Howell (Sr., Wilton High School) included rowers Callaghan Nickerson (Jr., Greenwich Academy), Annika Nelson (Jr. Darien High School), Caroline Krantz (Jr., Darien High School) and Sophie Bell (Soph., Darien High School). Event results are available here.

CBC also had strong showings in the Women’s Youth Eights and the Women’s Under-17 Fours as well as in the Women’s Alumnae Eights (with a great team of recent Connecticut Boat Club alums). Way to go CBC!

cbc 1v4 medal at head of charles 2022


CBC Alums Return to Compete in Regatta

CBC alumni Head of the Charles

Connecticut Boat Club (as usual) is sending its team to compete in the upcoming Head of the Charles Regatta. The Head of the Charles will take place on October 21-23, 2022 in Cambridge, MA. It is the world’s largest 3-day rowing competition with 11,000 competitors and over 400,000 spectators.

This year, a number of CBC alums are returning to race with current CBC athletes at the Head of the Charles. This is a testament to the strong bonds made by CBC athletes.

The alums, who hail from Norwalk to Fairfield and everywhere in between, include an impressive list of athletes who are World, US National and NCAA champions. These athletes could have opted to race with their college or US National alumni boats. Instead, they’ve decided to race for CBC — their high school club team. With the level of talent on this team, it is likely the results will be impressive.

The returning athletes include:

Katherine Isaza (Syracuse): Norwalk
Isa Fitter (USC): Fairfield
Jess Ferrante (BC):  Fairfield
Meg Galloway (Yale) : Ridgefield
Kaitlyn Kynast (Stanford): Ridgefield
CSey Clifford (Brown) : Darien
Kath Squitieri (Brown)  : Wilton
Lauren Squitieri (Penn):  Wilton

Connecticut Boat Club (CBC) is a high-performance girls’ youth rowing club based on the Norwalk River in Norwalk, Connecticut. It was founded in 2010 by head coach Liz Trond and includes girls throughout southwestern Connecticut and Westchester County, NY. The club is focused solely on girls and young women and has made an impact on the lives of so many girls throughout the years. The athletes develop friendships on the team that last well beyond their time spent on the water both during high school and well into the future.

CBC Alumni


CBC Rowers Win Silver and Bronze Medals at 2022 Youth Nationals

Connecticut Boat Club rowers took silver and bronze in pairs (2-) at the US Rowing Youth National Championship in Sarasota Florida. This is the first time that CBC took two medals in the same event.

CBC rowers Sophia Greco, of Norwalk, and Emily Knapp, of New York, NY, won a silver medal in the women’s youth 2- event, and Caroline Krantz and Annika Nelson, both of Darien, won a bronze medal in the women’s youth 2- event. CBC also qualified in three other events at Nationals and placed 4th place in the women’s U17 4x event (Caitlin O’Mara of Darien, Maddy Dodge of Darien, Sophie Bell of Darien, and Miya Lee of Wilton).


CBC at the 2022 Northeast Regionals

CBC team at the 2022 NE regionals

The Connecticut Boat Club varsity, novice and development teams had a great weekend at the Northeast Regional regatta in Lowell Mass. on May 21-22, 2022, with seven boats qualifying for Nationals and several Novice boats medaling.

You can view the results of the races at Herenow.

CBC rowers qualified for Nationals in a variety of races, including:

  • V2- (with two boats qualifying)
  • V4-
  • V4+
  • V4x
  • U17 4x
  • U16 4x+

Let’s go CBC!


CBC Success at Saratoga Invitational 2022

CBC Saratoga Invitational 2022

The Connecticut Boat Club once again participated in one of the premier Spring sprint rowing events in the Northeast — the Saratoga Invitational. This year’s Invitational was held on a beautiful spring weekend with perfect racing conditions.

CBC raced a variety of boats in different events. Some athletes competed in three or more events each day.

The result was a number of podium finishes. Every athlete who was healthy and able to compete earned a medal (with some athletes bringing home four or five medals).

The CBC team capped off a great weekend with a dominating performance by the Junior/U17 8+ which won in a very competitive field. A picture of the finish is shown below.

You can view the results of all the races here.

Next up is the Northeast Championships in Lowell Massachusetts on May 20-22 (see the CBC rowing events page).

Go CBC!