SARATOGA SPRINGS — Among the seven gold medals claimed by the Saratoga Rowing Association at the Scholastic Rowing Association of America national championship regatta on May 24, there was one in particular that girls head coach Eric Catalano was more than happy to finally walk away with.
Gold in the first varsity eight.
The past couple years, the girls had the fastest time heading into the final before losing by a fraction of a second in the final. Last season, the senior eight team (the one that won at the Head of the Charles and went on to compete at the Sydney International Rowing Regatta in Sydney, Australia) lost by less than a second to James Madison, repeating as silver medalists.
This year the SRA girls left no doubt, winning by three seconds.
“This year we were able to make that final jump into winning it,” Catalano said. “For as successful as the team has been over the years, and we’ve won a lot of medals over the years and a lot of national championships, but that one in the senior eight has been elusive. This year, being able to finally pull through in the end was certainly something we’ve been striving for several years now.”
The girls varsity eight team includes seniors Meghan Hampton, Mackenzie Battle, Annecy Smith, Rachel Signor, junior Claire Murphy, sophomores Alessandra Smith, Grace Mastrianni and Martina Grant, as well as coxswain Mackenzie Hart.
All around the board, Catalano was impressed with both his girls and the boys’ side, crediting the coaches at the freshman and junior varsity levels.
“It says a lot about our depth of the program,” Catalano said. “As the young kids come up, we have a good future to look forward to. Across the board, I’m really thankful for my assistant coaches. They’re creating something special in the younger classes and it’s really filtering up to the varsity. As a head coach, getting athletes who have been well prepared and are getting great experience, you can’t ask for more than that as a head coach.”
Out of 14 boats entered by the SRA, 12 of them competed in national finals.
“Along with finishing first in the senior eight we were able to win gold in the freshman and the second varsity eight as well, so it was a pretty dominant performance for the bigger boats,” said Catalano of the girls’ side.
The girls second varsity eight (Marie Woldring, Kelsey Fairley, Caroline Parry, Natalie Howk, Emma Valastro, Abbie Albright, Samantha Duff, Emma Price, Tara Eaton) earned its second consecutive gold medal Saturday at Mercer Lake.
The SRA girls freshman eight (Gillian Bremer, Molly Dexter, Libby Turco, Schuyler Patterson, Megan Varcoe, Grace Kabanuk, Helaina Howe, Catherine Pazderski, Mary Laniewski) also earned a second straight gold medal for the boat by finishing in first by less than a second in front of New Trier.
On Saturday, the finals were pushed forward because of an approaching thunderstorm, giving teams less time to prepare between the semifinals and the last race.
“The girls did a really good job at managing that short turnaround,” Catalano said. “Some put in a time faster than the semifinal.”
In addition, after taking gold last year, the girls freshman quad (Erin Kate Kilgallon, Cassondre, Layden, Margaret Roach, Sarah Daoui) finished with a bronze medal this year.
The boys freshman quad (Daniel Dalton, Caleb Gordon, Jackson Gaba, Daniel Shaw) highlighted the day, claiming gold by seven seconds.
The SRA men’s JV double crew of Maxwell Lynch and Evan Dungate won silver, while the men’s varsity double of Ondrei Aquino and Milo Alexandra won bronze.
Varsity is off this weekend, but next weekend will be the first of a new regatta hosted by the SRA called the National Schools’ Championship Regatta. Racing will start Saturday, June 7 at 1 p.m., as the best of the public high schools compete against the best of the preparatory schools.
