MEN'S DOUBLE SCORES SILVER AT NATIONALS

Three crews traveled to Saratoga Springs, NY to compete in the Scholastic Nationals, the closest thing rowing has to a regional/national championship. Zach Petronic and Steve Genise added to their medal collection by finishing second in Men's Varsity Doubles; the Women's Jr Quad of Michelle Benson, Liz Craig, Lauren Larocca and Lauren Vespoli qualified for finals on Friday, then finished 5th on Saturday. The Men's Jr Quad of Andre Ficerai, Sean Kurtz, Jake Lennon and John Rectenwald finished 5th on Friday.

View complete results at Powerhouse Timing.

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Photo Courtesy of Diane Hobbs

NA ROWERS CONCLUDE SEASON AT STOTESBURY CUP

Photo Gallery

Tiger Rowers wrapped up their season this past weekend at the Stotesbury Cup, the largest ever with 5000 athletes from 180 high schools. In such a large field, winning any medals at all is an accomplishment, and that is just what Zach Petronic and Steve Genise did by finishing third in their Boys' Senior Doubles event.

Also making finals was the Girls Senior Quad (Kim Gilmour, Lauren Vespoli, Abi Gunn, Madison Treser), finishing just out of the medals in 4th place.

All other Boys' boats made Semi-Finals. In the Senior Quad race, Kurt Schoffstall, Cole Lennon, Evan Solic, Nick Neugebauer finished 6th in their semi, and the Junior Quad of Sean Kurtz, Jake Lennon, Andre Ficerai, John Rectenwald came in 5th. Finally, Eric McQuiston and Billy Brant finished 6th in their Boys' Junior Doubles semi.

Other boats: Girls' Junior Double (Lauren Larocca, Michelle Benson); Girls' Junior Quad (Maureen Crammond, Ellie Duursma, Liz Craig, Christina Hunkele), and Girls' Senior Four (Christine Frazier, Merel Duursma, Valerie Kopyta, Nicole Rotunno (Meghan Wilson coxing)).

Check full results; pictures now available.

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TIGERS DOMINATE SCULLING EVENTS AT MIDWEST

North Allegheny Tiger Rowers cashed in another opportunity to show off their sculling prowess at Midwest Scholastic Sprints, capturing 3 Gold, 1 Silver and 3 Bronze medals in the process (or 21 medals if counted individually).

The tournament hardly started off in a promising way. Early Saturday morning racing saw two of our boats miss semifinals, until at about 9:00 AM, when moderate winds turned to fierce, causing racing to be suspended for 6 (six) of the most miserable hours of (non-)rowing in recent memory. Under largely overcast skies, rowers and parents alike could do little else but seek shelter from the 30 to 40 mile an hour wind gusts, which made the low-50 temps feel more like low-30s. Meanwhile, all small boat races had been cancelled for the day, so that all eyes were on our one remaining race, which finally took off 9 hours after our previous one. Alas, the Women's Novice 8 missed qualifying, but at least everyone got to go back to the hotel.

Sunday (Mother's Day) brought relief in the form of sub-10 mph winds, which enabled the small boats to hit the water. By then, the schedule had been modified, eliminating all semifinals in favor of head races. Much credit goes to the race organizers, who despite losing 6 hours, succeeded in completing every event in a reasonable way while still allowing the event to conclude around 3pm on Sunday.

The first Gold medal of the day went to Kim Gilmour, who scored a convincing victory in her singles event, with Madison Treser taking 5th in that same race. Next up was the Men's Lightweight Double of Andre Ficerai and John Rectenwald, who made finals and then came in 5th.

Meanwhile, there was no rest for Zach Petronic and Steve Genise, who rowed both a Double as well as a Pair. Undaunted, they made finals in both races, sending them out to the start lines a total of four times. Their efforts were rewarded when they scored Silver in the Doubles event, narrowly missing 3rd place in the Pair. Also competing in the Doubles event were Billy Brant and Eric McQuiston, who finished 8th in the head races.

The next Gold medals went to the Women's Jr Quad (Michelle Benson, Lauren Larocca, Liz Craig, Lauren Vespoli), easily dispatching a field of 4 other boats in a straight final, including our own third-place finishing crew of Jen Milkey, Lauren Bleyaert, Maureen Crammond, Madison Treser. Taking Bronze in a field of 4 were the Women's Sr Quad (Merel Duursma, Christine Frazier, Meghan Wilson, Ellie Duursma).

Another Bronze medal went to Kim Gilmour and Lauren Vespoli in Women's Doubles.

Our final Gold medal of the day went to the Men's Junior Quad of Sean Kurtz, Jake Lennon, John Rectenwald, Andre Ficerai, who made short work of their competition.

In the final points tally of this tournament, North Allegheny finished 9th in Men's events and 4th in Women's events. In combined events, we were 4th (85.25 pts), behind New Trier (347.5 pts), Ann Arbor Pioneer High School (140 pts), and Loyola Academy (94 pts).

Full results for boats not mentioned above:

Women's Novice 8 (Kaylee Williams, Stephanie Plut, Gina Caruso, Meg Sekinger, Alison Bostedo, Sarah Lamanna, Sammy Davis, Courtney Ferguson (Ryan Hopey)): 11th.
Men's Lightweight Novice 4 (Zach Slayton, Mike Limauro, Ryan Hopey, Luke Macaluso (Meghan Wilson)): 18th.
Men's Novice 4 (Sam Sheridan, Zak Milkey, Xaq Herold, Nick Neugebauer (Liz Craig)): 18th.
Women's Lightweight Doubles (Christina Hunkele, Nicole Rotunno): 5th (in straight finals)
Men's Varsity Quad (the all-junior crew of Eric McQuiston, Billy Brant, Cole Lennon, Evan Solic): 4th (in straight finals)
Women's Jr Four (Valerie Kopyta, Stephanie Plut, Lauren Bleyaert, Sarah Lamanna (Luke Macaluso)): 22nd.

Check out official results. Pictures coming soon!

(Thanks to Ron Duursma and the North Allegheny Rowing website. For more info, go to: www.narowing.org.)

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WEATHER FOULS UP SCHOLASTIC SPRINGS

Dire weather forecasts came partly true at Moraine State Park on Sunday, cutting short the annual Scholastic Sprints, this year held in support of the Glimmer of Hope Foundation. While the predicted thunderstorms stayed away, steady morning rain and strong afternoon winds combined for less than ideal rowing conditions, eventually causing the cancellation of the majority of afternoon Finals events.

The Tigers' only completed Finals event was the Men's Lightweight 4, where John Rectenwald, Andre Ficerai, Jake Lennon, Sean Kurtz (Liz Craig coxing), finished 6th. Two boats that were entered in straight Finals never got to race at all. Zach Petronic and Steve Genise found their efforts at rigging a Pair fruitless, while Cole Lennon and Eric McQuiston (Men's 2x) were rained out as well.

A notable bright spot was the performance of our Novice 4 crews. On the Boys side, Nick Neugebauer, Zak Milkey, Sam Sheridan, Xaq Herold (Meghan Wilson) put together a strong morning race to finish 2nd, but didn't get to race their Finals. Also finishing second were Courtney Ferguson, Claire Barber, Sammy Davis, Carlie Donahue (Nicole Rotunno), but unfortunately, their race required first place to move to Finals. Finals were also rained out for the Women's Double of Kim Gilmour, Lauren Vespoli.

No other crews advanced to Finals. In chronological order, along with finish in heat:

Women's Lightweight 4 (Sarah Sharpnack, Michelle Sunjoo Lee, Christina Hunkele, Nicole Rotunno (Ryan Hopey)): 6th
Women's Novice 8 (Courtney Ferguson, Gina Caruso, Sammy Davis, Stephanie Plut, Sarah Lamanna, Gillian Lawhead, Meg Sekinger, Kaylee Williams (Alison Bostedo)): 4th
Women's Varsity 4 (Lauren Vespoli, Merel Duursma, Kim Gilmour, Madison Treser (Meghan Wilson)): 4th
Men's Varsity 4 (Mike Durbiano, Cole Lennon, Kurt Schoffstall, Evan Solic (Luke Macaluso)): 4th
Women's JV 4 (Lauren Larocca, Michelle Benson, Jen Milkey, Liz Craig (Ryan Hopey)): 3rd
Women's JV 4 (Sarah Lamanna, Lauren Bleyaert, Michelle Sunjoo Lee, Valerie Kopyta (Alison Bostedo)): 5th
Men's Novice 4 (Luke Macaluso, Ryan Hopey, Mike Limauro, Zach Slayton (Liz Craig)): 6th
Women's Double (Ellie Duursma, Maureen Crammond): 5th
Women's Double (Christine Frazier, Christina Hunkele): 4th

Check results. Check back soon for pictures!

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TIGERS WIN GOLD, BRONZE AT OHIO GOVERNOR'S CUP

Petronic and Schoffstall: Gold

"Two" proved to be the lucky number for the Tigers at Saturday's Governor's Cup in Columbus Ohio, as both their medals were won in doubles events. Under ominous but largely rain-free skies, in the Boys Doubles, Zach Petronic and Kurt Schoffstall won Gold (Mike Durbiano and Evan Solic taking fourth in that same event), while Jen Milkey and Maureen Crammond took Bronze in Girls Doubles. Our only other boat to make finals, the Boys Lightweight 8 (John Rectenwald, Steve Genise, Billy Brant, Andre Ficerai, Jake Lennon, Eric McQuiston, Sean Kurtz, Cole Lennon, Alison Bostedo(cox)), found themselves out-edged by more experienced competition, finishing 6th.

In other results, the Boys Lightweight 4 of Billy Brant, Jake Lennon, John Rectenwald, Cole Lennon, Ryan Hopey(cox) started off the day by finishing 3rd in their heat, while Eric McQuiston, Xaq Herold, Andre Ficerai, Sean Kurtz, Liz Craig(cox) finished 6th. The Boys Novice 4 of Nick Neugebauer, Zak Milkey, Mike Limauro, Sam Sheridan, coxed by Nicole Rotunno finished 5th in their heat.

Our three Girls Varsity 4 boats (A: Lauren Vespoli, Kim Gilmour, Abi Gunn, Madison Treser, Nicole Rotunno(cox), B: Lauren Larocca, Merel Duursma, Liz Craig, Michelle Benson, Lucas Macaluso(cox), and C: Courtney Ferguson, Lauren Bleyaert, Stephanie Plut, Christine Frazier, Ryan Hopey(cox)) missed advancing to finals, finishing 4th, 3rd and 4th, respectively.

Our Girls Novice 8 (Courtney Ferguson, Sammy Davis, Sarah Lamanna, Alison Bostedo, Meg Sekinger, Gina Caruso, Stephanie Plut, Kaylee Williams, coxed by Lucas Macaluso) took 5th; Ellie Duursma and Sarah Sharpnack came in 4th in Girls Doubles. Finally, Girls Novice 4 (Sarah Lamanna, Sammy Davis, Meg Sekinger, Kaylee Williams, Nicole Rotunno(cox)) finished 4th.

Check full results. Pictures to follow soon!

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North Allegheny wins 2010 Indoor Erg Race

This past Saturday, over 300 rowers and hundreds more parents and other onlookers once again gathered for the 11th annual North Allegheny Indoor Erg Race held at Marshall Middle School. Twenty-one times, rowers from local high schools would take their seats on one of twenty ergometers (rowing machines). Guided by frantic screams from a helper on a chair next to them, each would perform a simulated rowing race of 2000 meters. At first, the gymnasium would be relatively quiet (as quiet as 500 people can be). Gradually, during eight minutes of rowing, the excitement would increase, the audience getting louder and louder, until the last two minutes, when the frenzy reaches such heights that having a conversation with the person next to you would become impossible, finally erupting in loud cheers and thunderous applause when the first rowers finished their race. Exhausted to the max, most rowers would hang their heads, drop to the floor, or stagger away from the scene, mumbling incoherently. Welcome to Indoor Rowing!

The North Allegheny Indoor Rowing Championships, now held for the 11th time, features over 300 rowers from local high schools. Rowers complete in 18 different events, followed by three relay races. Points are awarded for finishing in the top 6. This year, North Allegheny won the Girls Combined events, while Central Catholic finished first in the Boys Category. In combined points, North Allegheny took first, with Central Catholic taking second and Three Rivers finishing third.

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