NA Rowing Opens Fall Season At Head Of the Ohio
North Allegheny Rowing officially opened the Fall 2023 season at the Head of the Ohio in downtown Pittsburgh on Sunday. Conditions were difficult with high winds and rough waters requiring the regatta officials to shorten the course to 2500 meters (down from 4100) and ultimately to also cancel events with less than 2 oars for safety concerns.
The Tigers started the day early and strong with the Women’s U19 4x taking 2nd place to Westerville, a team they’ll race off against again next weekend at The Hoover Fall Classic. (Alexandra Witzel, Sawyer Wright, Katherine Zema, Lorelei Schreiber). Following them down the course was the Women’s U19 4+ who battled conditions and placed 15th in a deep field. (Alana Boronski, Athena Huber, Vanessa Edfors, Boden Sumerlin & Cox, Evelyn Disque).
The Tigers only gold medal of the day was brought home by Madison Lambert & Madelyn Rodgers in the Women’s U17 2x. The “Double Maddie Double” won handily with a full 2:08 ahead of second place in a field of 11 entries.
The first men’s event of the day was the Mens U174x (Christian Sperandeo, Nikhil Kshirsagar, Suraj Raina, Nolan Bunn) The line up of two novices and two sophomores brought home 2nd place and valuable racing experience. They were followed by the Men’s U19 1st 8+ who saw a strong field and finished 9th. (Miles Reese, Carson Carona, Cooper Lemon, Alexander Repinski, Anthony Bertucci, Joshua Dubouvecky, Roman Bellisario, Layton Wright & Cox Lauren Keyser) The lineup will see the course again next week to rehash racing against crews who were just ahead of them this weekend.
In their racing debut, novices Phoenix Core, Maximus Disque, Neil Pore, AJ Walton And Cox Mandy Adducci raced in the novice 4+ event finishing 9th. Novice woman Abigail Greiner raced with Abigail Bergin the Novice 2x event – a challenge in the day’s conditions for sure and finished 7th. The Men’s Novice 2x was the final small boat event run for the day and Nikhil Kshirsagar & Suraj Raina placed 6th in their second race of the day.
Varsity rowers headed out again in the early afternoon first in the Women’s U19 1st 8+ placing 8th/ 15, just .3 behind local competition Fox Chapel (Alana Boronski, Sawyer Wright, Lorelei Schreiber Katherine Zema, Alexandra Witzel, Athena Huber, Vanessa Edfors, Boden Sumerlin Cox: Evelyn Disque). The Women’s U174x followed on the course and secured 4th also just .3 off of the next fastest boat and just out of medal contention (Emily DiDonato, Alexandra Edfors, Ava Moore, Natalie Helfrick). The Varsity Men wrapped the day in quads and fours. The Men’s U19 4x brought home bronze and looks to hold their placement just above Westerville Rowing next weekend (Miles Reese, Anthony Bertucci, Josh Dubovecky, Carson Carona) The Mens 1st 4+ wrapped the day for the team on 14th/ 19 (Cooper Lemon, Alexander Repinski, Roman Bellisario, Layton Wright & Cox Abigail Berger).
Next weekend The Tigers travel to Westerville Rowing’s Hoover Fall Classic in Westerville OH where they’ll race in some similar events and a few new ones on a full 5K head race course.