North Allegheny Rowing Kicks Off Spring Season at Huron River Sprints
by: Rowing Contributor
North Allegheny Rowing launched its spring racing season on Saturday, April 19, at the Mitten Series #1 Huron River Sprints held on the Kathryn Bennett Race Course in Milford, Michigan. With winter training behind them, the Tigers were ready to execute their race plans and unleash the speed built over months of preparation. Racing conditions were brisk and windy, with a full schedule of time trials and semifinals in the morning, followed by finals in the afternoon.
NA entered 16 boats into competition, advancing 10 to finals and 8 into A finals.
The day began with the Men’s Novice 8+ (Ava Moore, Ryan Lovejoy, James Hamed, Stephen Webber-Plank, Emmett Robleto, Yuantao Tang, Will Ason, Matthew Collins, and Tai Luangkesorn), who placed sixth in the time trial to advance to the A Final, where they finished seventh overall. Following them were two Men’s Varsity 2x lineups, both advancing to finals. In a nail-biting finish, the duo of Miles Reese and Anthony Bertucci edged out teammates Nolan Bunn and Roman Bellisario by just 0.8 seconds, taking third place with a time of 5:40.332 and securing NA’s first medal of the day.
The Men’s JV 2x of Cooper Lemon and Alex Repinski also advanced and placed sixth in their final. In the largest event of the day, the Men’s JV 4+ of Suraj Raina, Max Disque, Nik Kshirsagar, and Daniel Choi, coxed by Lauren Keyser, faced off against 31 other boats, finishing 21st in time trials.
Five rowers from the Novice 8+ returned to race in the Men’s Novice 4+ (Tai Luangkesorn, Ryan Lovejoy, James Hamed, Yuantao Tang, and Stephen Webber-Plank), with Luangkesorn moving from rower to coxswain. The crew advanced and placed second in the B Final.
On the women’s side, who took to the course at last, the Varsity 4x (Katherine Zema, Madison Lambert, Boe Sumerlin, and Charlee Sunday) advanced to finals and claimed a hard-earned third place, bringing home the Tiger’s second medal. After a strong week of practice, the Women’s JV 4x (Natalie Helffrich, Abby Greiner, Alexandra Edfors, and Jocelyn Munroe) took fourth in their semifinal.
The crew of Roman Bellisario, Christian Sperandeo, Neil Pore, and Nolan Bunn, coxed by Lauren Keyser, raced together for only the second time in this lineup in the debut of NA’s brand-new shell. They advanced from time trials and finished third in an exciting B Final showdown.
In the Women’s Varsity 2x, two NA boats took to the water. Boe Sumerlin and Charlee Sunday placed sixth in their semifinal, while Katherine Zema and Madison Lambert advanced to the final after a second-place finish in their semi. Zema and Lambert ultimately placed eighth in the final after another tight hot seat.
The Women’s Novice 4+ (Abby Berger, Ananya Doizhode, Lydia Humphrey, Lucy Hughes, and Louisa Patel) made their racing debut and missed advancing to finals by just two seconds. Next, the Men’s Novice 4x+ (Matthew Collins, Will Ason, Emmett Robleto, and Jace Laker), with Ava Moore at coxswain, placed eighth in the final, marking the first race for novices Ason and Laker.
The Men’s Varsity 4x of Miles Reese, Anthony Bertucci, Carson Corona, and Layton Wright just missed a finals spot by 0.7 seconds but came off the water with clear goals for improvement. The Men’s JV 4x of Cooper Lemon, Alex Repinski, Neil Pore, and Christian Sperandeo, in a straight final, delivered a standout performance, taking first place with a time of 5:27.887. They secured NA’s third and final medal of the day.
The day wrapped up with the Women’s Novice 8+ (Emma Coca, Ananya Doizhode, Lydia Humphrey, Lucy Hughes, Louisa Patel, Greta Edfors, Tatiana Morillo, Natalie Patel, and Sophia Savena), where four more Tigers (Humphrey, Hughes, Savena, and Morillo) made their racing debut. The lineup once again narrowly missed a finals spot by just two seconds.
In team standings, the NA men finished third overall in sculling points, with the women finishing fourth in sculling points.
For complete race results, click here.
North Allegheny Rowing now turns its attention to the next test, racing in the city championships of Pittsburgh Sprints at Moraine State Park on Saturday, April 26. With valuable race experience in hand and speed continuing to build, the Tigers are ready to rise to the challenge.
