by Jill Maxwell ·
Thursday, May 25, 2023
On May 20 and 21 the team competed on a 2,000-meter course at the two-day USRowing Northeast Youth Championship Regatta on Lake Quinsigamond in Worcester. Boats advanced through time trials and semifinals to finals. Crews finishing in the top four spots in the finals are granted a berth at the USRowing Youth National Regatta in Sarasota, Florida, in June.
The boys first varsity four, rowed by Atticus Keep, Charles Maxwell, Asher Ryba, and Derek Uhrich and coxed by Lucas Villaseñor, and the girls U17 four, coxed by Hanna Lem Moustakas and rowed by Eleanor Daly, Will Stoddard, Braeden Hartley, and Emily Yang, swept up bronze medals at the regional contest. “They are totally pumped,” said Holly Hatton, the girls head varsity coach. The boys first varsity eight, rowed by the same athletes as in the four along with Matthew Chytil, Aidan Nolde, William Pharo, and Leo Sullivan, finished fourth.
The girls varsity four—Eliza Straayer, Beatrice Maxwell, Mia Hartley, and Emma Gregg with coxswain Evelyn Huang—crossed the line in a photo finish with Brookline and Litchfield Hills, vying for third and fourth place. BA-B clocked in fifth by milliseconds. Hatton said they will petition for a spot at nationals, an option for boats that finish just out of contention. Final word from USRowing will come on Tuesday, May 30.
A total of 489 boats from 52 clubs plied the Worcester course. BA-B’s depth was on display as the boys third varsity 8 finished fourth, and the girls U16 coxed quad finished fifth, in the final. The girls second varsity four, the boys U17 four, and the girls double, with seniors Zoë Gendreau-Distler and Rachel Walker, who had rowed a double at nationals in 2021, made it to the finals, where they finished sixth.
Due to the race schedule, the boys in the first varsity four finished their race, rowed to the shore, stepped out of their boat, stepped across the dock, and sat in the eight to row it down to the start and run the course a second time with no rest.
Speaking of the entire boys team, their coach, Gary Piantedosi, said, “These guys have been focusing on this race, this moment, since they showed up last September. Every stroke they took, every weight they lifted, was all about today.”
Conditions swung from pouring rain on Saturday to sunny skies on Sunday. Athletes carried their boats on their shoulders along paths lined with team food tents.
Two weeks earlier, the Massachusetts Environmental Police revoked the race permit for the Amber Zapatka Memorial Regatta on the Merrimack River in Lowell due to a broken safety line near the Merrimack Dam. Instead, BA-B rowers scrimmaged Brookline and Row Boston in the Charles River basin. On Sunday, May 28, the team’s last competition of the season, the Massachusetts Public Schools Rowing Association’s State Championship Regatta, will be held on the Merrimack course, assuming the safety concerns have been resolved.
Jill Maxwell is a BA-B parent.
Zoë Gendreau-Distler and Rachel Walker rest after making it to the finals where they finished sixth. (Courtesy photo)
BOYS RESULTS
Youth 2x: William Pharo and Milo Whitbeck, 16th place, time trial, 8:27.922 ; Leo Sullivan and Sam Goldgar, 17th, time trial, 8:34.910
Mens Youth 4+: Atticus Keep, Charles Maxwell, Asher Ryba, Derek Uhrich, and coxswain Lucas Villaseñor, third, final, 6:43.329
Mens 2nd Youth 4+: Aidan Lemke, Jorgen Johannessen, Alexander Horton, Noah Stein, and coxswain Benjamin Bluth, third, heats, 8:22.418; Trevor Mangus, Gavin Datta, Sam Goldgar, Darren Quek, and coxswain Wyatt Neville, fourth, heats, 9:01.073
U17 4+: Shankara Rao, Uladzimir Danilovich, Henry Belanger, Russell Poutasse, and coxswain Wyatt Neville, sixth, final, 7:38.597
Youth 8+: Atticus Keep, Charles Maxwell, Asher Ryba, Aidan Nolde, William Pharo, Derek Uhrich, Leo Sullivan, Matthew Chytil, and coxswain Lucas Villaseñor, fourth, final, 6:28.131
Youth 2V8+: Shankara Rao, Uladzimir Danilovich, Adam Castriotta, Henry Belanger, Aidan Lemke, Maxwell Hurlbut-Lesk, Milo Whitbeck, Noah Stein, and coxswain Benjamin Bluth, seventh, time trial, 7:01.895
Youth 3V8+: Felipe Ferraz da Rocha Paes, Myles McCormick, Jeffrey Wang, Charlie Leuci, Andrew Zhang, Noah Freedman, Eddy Zhao, Jeffery Chang, and coxswain Nathan Kushner, fourth, final, 7:24.290
GIRLS RESULTS
Youth 1x: Abby Depew, eighth place, time trial, 10:07.589
Youth 2x: Zoë Gendreau-Distler and Rachel Walker, sixth, final, 8:19.202; Nosara Maxwell and Yolander Yang, 14th, time trial, 9:19.498
Youth 4+: Eliza Straayer, Beatrice Maxwell, Mia Hartley, Emma Gregg, and coxswain Evelyn Huang, fifth, final, 7:35.518
Youth 2nd 4+: Elizabeth Feirouz, Emma Lawson, Sophia Philipp, Nina Manglani, and coxswain Amita Khurana, sixth, final, 8:13.962 ; Alexis Nichols, Caroline Burianek, Nooriya Taherbhoy, Kaitlyn Vittum, and coxswain Sera Baang, third, heats, 9:00.089
U16 4x+: Caroline Kellett, Annabelle Purcell, Gwyneth Poutasse, Julia Beale, and coxswain Gabriella Shee, fifth, final, 9:15.293
U17 4+: Eleanor Daly, Will Stoddard, Braeden Hartley, Emily Yang, and coxswain Hanna Lem Moustakas, third, final, 7:35.091
U17 4x: Ava Dawn, Margaret Greenberg, Abigail Hirschberg, and Isabel Walker, seventh, time trial, 8:31.662