North Allegheny Rowing Competes at Historic Stotesbury Cup Regatta
by: Rowing Contributor
North Allegheny Rowing took to the waters of the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia, PA this past weekend, sending seven select lineups to represent the program at the prestigious 98th Annual Stotesbury Cup Regatta, the largest scholastic rowing competition in the world. The event drew 4,774 athletes representing 825 entries from 166 schools, creating an electric atmosphere of elite scholastic rowing.
Racing kicked off early Friday morning with time trials for all events. First up for the Tigers was the Women’s Junior 2x of Natalie Helffrich and Jocelyn Munroe, who clocked a time of 6:12.35 to open the day’s racing.
They were followed by the Men’s Junior 4+, a lineup made entirely of novice rowers racing up: Ryan Lovejoy, James Hamed, Yuantao Tang, and Stephen Webber-Plank, coxed by junior Ava Moore. The crew showed significant growth and improvement, implementing technical focus areas from prior races to finish 46th out of 54 entries, a strong result for this crew in one of the most competitive events of the regatta.
Next on the water was the Men’s Junior 4x featuring Cooper Lemon, Alex Repinski, Neil Pore, and Christian Sperandeo. Just after launching, racing was halted due to a passing storm. After a three-hour weather delay, the crew returned to the course with renewed focus, finishing in 16th place out of 23 entries with a time of 4:59.42, only four spots shy of a semi-final berth.
Momentum built later in the day when the Women’s Senior 2x of Katherine Zema and Madison Lambert became North Allegheny’s first crew to advance to Saturday’s semi-finals. The duo posted a time of 5:42.30, placing 10th out of 27 entries and earning Lane 1 in the next round.
Joining them in Saturday’s competition would be the Men’s Senior 2x of Miles Rees and Anthony Bertucci, who powered down the course to finish 11th out of 32 entries, securing Lane 5 in the semi-finals.
The Men’s Senior 4x of Roman Bellisario, Carson Corona, Nolan Bunn, and Layton Wright delivered a strong performance in their final race as Tigers. The experienced senior crew placed 14th out of 18 entries, just four seconds short of advancing to the semi-finals. While they narrowly missed the cut, their determined row down the course was a fitting conclusion to their North Allegheny rowing careers.
Closing out Friday’s time trials was the Men’s Senior 4+, a lineup of sophomores Nik Kshirsagar, Max Disque, Suraj Raina, and Daniel Choi, coxed by senior Lauren Keyser. Despite suffering a steering system failure at the start, the crew displayed grit and resilience to complete their race in 5:23.73, finishing 46th out of 51.
Unfortunately, overnight storms once again impacted the regatta. Early Saturday morning, race officials made the decision to cancel all semi-finals and finals due to unsafe conditions. As a result, final standings were determined based on Friday’s time trial results.
Despite the shortened weekend, the Tigers left Philadelphia with valuable experience and promising performances. Notably, the Women’s Senior 2x will look to carry their momentum into the Scholastic Rowing Association of America (SRAA) National Championships next weekend on the Cooper River in Camden, NJ. With the lessons learned on the Schuylkill, the crew is eager to find new speed and make a strong showing on the national stage.
