June 5, 2008 Issue                                       

©2007 The Chestnut Hill Local

Mount crew claims five medals at SRAA’s
by TOM UTESCHER

Mount St. Joseph Academy’s new crew trailer took its first true road trip two weekends ago, carrying assorted four and eight-oared vessels down to Oak Ridge, TN for the 2008 Scholastic Rowing Association of America National Championships.

Coming back home after the finals on May 24, the Magic were toting silver medals for their performances in the junior four, junior eight, lightweight eight, and second eight categories, along with the most prestigious prize, the gold medal in the varsity eight (see separate story). Overall, the Magic earned more medals than any other women’s program in the country (New Jersey’s Holy Spirit H.S. won four medals in women’s events, two in men’s).

While the Mount is best known for the performance of its eight-oared boats, the MSJ fours have been getting better each year, and the silver medal earned by the junior boat represented the highest finish ever at the SRAA’s for an MSJ quartet.

“They just happened to click,” commented Mount fours coach Louisa Magda. “Those four girls just really seemed to make that boat move.”

All three Mount entries advanced past the qualifying heats on Friday, May 23, when the juniors won the third of four heats, the lightweights were third in the first of four races, and the senior four was third in one of six heats. Coming in fifth in their semifinal contest the next morning, the senior four (Tori O’Malley [cox], Ariana Harkins [stroke], Colleen McNamara, Cristina Bernal, Clare Kohler) was slotted into the third (or “C”) final, where they finished in second place.

The lights (Anora Collier [cox], Alanna McCloy [stroke], Maeve Flynn, Sofia Quinodoz, Catie Travaline) went through to the final with a third-place showing in the semi’s, and in the final race they came in fifth. The junior boat (Sarah Jordan [cox], Laura Powell [stroke], Nicole

DiGiovanni, Margot Finnegan, Anne Zapalac) was also third in its semifinal, partly by design.

The weather was warm, with little wind, and Magda said, “I told all the girls to shut it down once they were sure they’d advance. There’s no advantage to winning a semifinal, and I’d rather have them save something for the finals.”

The junior four would need that extra energy in its last outing.

As Magda reported, “Watching the race come down was a little nerve-wracking, because we were in fourth or fifth place a majority of the race. Literally in the last 25 strokes they gave everything they had in them and moved into second place.”

Haddonfield (NJ) won the gold medal, coming in two seconds ahead of the Magic four.

In the second eight, the Mount won the first of three heats, and then the first of two semifinals, but New Trier High School from suburban Chicago put up the fastest overall time in the heats, and Saratoga was quickest in the semi’s. Neither crew had appeared in Philadelphia at the Stotesbury Cup Regatta, where the Mount second eight won the gold medal.

In the SRAA final, New Trier finished one second ahead of the Magic (Gina Perri [cox], Kaitlin Scher [stroke], Becky Lederer, Natalie Carlone, Lawren Kieffer, Molly Thompson, Meg Farris, Meg Welsh, Rebecca Duffin) and Saratoga was another three seconds back in third place.

New Trier also won the freshman eight class, posting the fastest times at each stage of the regatta. The Magic ninth-graders won their heat at the outset, then advanced again by placing second in their semifinal race. In the final, the Mount St. Joe crew (Carly Fredericks [cox], Katie Casebeer [stroke], Colette McNeela, Meredith Bracken, Steph Henrich, Christina Hamilton, Anna DelRicci, Lindsey Nemshick, Meaghan Bresnahan) finished fifth behind one familiar rival (Radnor High School) and three crews from other states.

“Overall, the girls were happy with the progress that was made throughout the season, as was I,” said novice coach Stuart Chase, whose ninth graders won a bronze medal at Stotesbury. “Six of our eight rowers actually fit into the lightweight classification, but I still expect to win. I think we got a lot out of this group. Last year’s freshmen restocked the varsity eight (which contains four tenth-graders), and this year’s freshmen will probably restock the lightweight eight.”

From 2003 to 2007, the Mount lightweight eight won four gold medals at Stotesbury, and another four at SRAA’s. On May 17, the MSJ lights came away with a bronze medal at Stotes, and they moved up to take silver at scholastic nationals.

“They were a target for everybody this season,” observed Magic coach Mike McKenna. “They’re human beings, and knowing that the Mount lightweights had done so well in previous years, you can’t help take it for granted somewhat, and think that it’ll never end.”

The Magic (Alicia Elliott [cox], Katie Leonard [stroke], Sam Brecht, Erika McCormick, Nicole Rossetti, Caroline Ayes, Jenna O’Neill, Lizzy Kiernan, Betsy Thompson) won one of three qualifying heats on Friday, although faster times were posted in the other heats by Stotesbury gold medalist Holy Spirit, and by Virginia’s T.C. Williams. Spirit was again the fastest when the semifinals were run, but Mount St. Joe now had the second-best time. Physical endurance was a concern however, as one of the girls was rowing with a bad back, and another was feeling a twinge that later turned out to be caused by a stress fracture in one of her ribs.

Getting off to a strong start in the finals, the Magic led by almost half-a-boatlength two-thirds of the way through the race, but they were overtaken by their Jersey rivals in the last 500 meters. Spirit pulled out the win by eight-tenths of a second, while Winter Park (FL) was about three seconds farther back.

A strong Mount JV eight had finished behind Mainland (NJ) at the Philadelphia City Championships and behind both victorious Winter Park (FL) and silver medalist Mainland at Stotesbury. It was suggested that Winter Park was swapping talented underclassmen between its varsity and JV eights, as the Florida crew entered no varsity eight at Stotesbury, and had no JV eight at SRAA’s.

The Mount jayvees (Nicole Weinrich [cox], Johanna Duff [stroke], Molly Southwell, Lauren Gresko, Vicki Babson, Blaire Kelly, Colleen Delaney, Emma Brown, Meaghan Scher) won their heat and were second in their semifinal, thus advancing to the medal race. Mainland recorded the fastest time in the first round, but the quickest crew in the semifinals was Upper Arlington (OH). The Mainland eight (the Jersey school’s most successful boat this spring) won the final in 5:15.37, while Mount St. Joe (5:17.19) easily beat out the Ohioans (5:23.17) for the silver medal.