Arlington-Belmont Crew's Fast Start to Fall

Entering 13 boats in the regatta, Arlington-Belmont Crew started its fall season racing in the Head of the Merrimack on Saturday, Sept. 22.

The annual race drew 105 entries from 18 clubs to compete in a series of 4-mile (6.4 km) races on the Merrimack River in Methuen.

AB Crew – a club sport that draws its members from Arlington and Belmont High schools – this season has 49 girls and 66 boys, pushing off with 13 varsity and novice boats last Saturday, which competed in the same races.

The girls 8+ (8 with coxswain) A-boat took third place out of 18 boats in a hotly contested race, finishing less than 30 seconds behind the winner, with a time of 24:04. Rowing were Laurie VanBenschoten, Annalise Routenberg, Megan McMenimen, Katelyn Hamilton, Catherine Tiffany, Emily Seibring, Virginia White, and coxswain Anna Ferlanti from Arlington and Belmont’s Kalyani Grad-Kaimal.

The girl’s 8+ B-boat finished eighth, with a time of 26:17. The crew consisted of Maya Carlson, Marisa Puma, and Sarah Kolenbrander from Belmont and Julia Blass, Molly Minniti, Catherine Jacob-Dolan, Alex Hempel, Anja Pajevic, and coxswain Ellie Cayer from Arlington.

The novice girls, rowing the 8+ C-boat, included Belmont’s Olivia Cronin and Callie Abouzeid and Arlington’s Anna VanBenschoten, Bridget Kiejna, Susannah Benn, Linnea Berryman, Paige Riley, Alice Liu, and coxswain Andrea Abanto. They finished fifteenth with a time of 29:05.

The 8+ D-boat, also rowed by the novice girls squad, had a time of 31:37, finishing eighteenth. Rowers included Della Copes-Fink, Eva Joll, and Nyssa Stachowicz from Belmont and Sarah Daum, Annessia Jimenez, Emma Murach, Alex McElhoe, Betsey Donham, and coxswain Kayla Murphy of Arlington.

The boys 8+ A-boat also finished third in their race, against a field of 20 boats. Their time was 21:33, just 1:23 off the pace. The crew was Andrew Friedman, Roddy Pratt, Nathan Canada, Harry Rosner, Brian O’Neill, Omar Malik, Damien Murray, and coxswain Sarah Venuti of Arlington and Belmont’s Ryan Cleary.

The other boys varsity 8+ came in ninth, with a time of 23:12. Rowers included Max Halliday, Marcus Dardompre, Evan Duffy, Zach Guion, Sam Magill-Dohan, and Jacy Loshin of Arlington and Nick Osborn, Sam Pratt, and coxswain Lena Schermer from Belmont.

Three novice boys 8+ boats also competed, although one had to drop out because of an equipment failure during the race. The C-boat, rowed by Arlington’s Dan Cook, Eli Rubens, and Adam Banzon and Belmont’s Trey Butler, Ekim Otucu, Alex Gharibian, Ryan Sass, Rafi Wagner, coxswain Brenna Sorkin, took seventeenth place with a time of 25:58.

The 8+ D-boat finished in 26:26 in nineteenth place. Rowers included Eryk Dobrushkin, James Tiffany, Brendan Mooney, and Ian Bernardin from Arlington and Adrian Tanner, Charlie Kohl, David Babikian, Anthony DiFranco, and coxswain Nicole Merullo from Belmont.

The girls varsity 4+ (four with coxswain) was slowed by equipment problems midway in the race but took sixth place out of nine boats, with a time of 27:42, three minutes off the pace. Rowing for AB Crew was Arlington’s Megan McMenimen, Cady Trvalik, and Kirsten Gronlund along with Belmont’s Meg Poterba and coxswain Hannah Pratt.

AB Crew also entered a lightweight girls 4+, which has a weight limit of 130 pounds per rower. The girls, including Sara Hamilton, Catherine Jacob-Dolan, and Kate Cornell from Arlington and
Kalyani Grad-Kaimal and coxswain Daphne Schermer of Belmont beat the other boat in the race by over three minutes, with a time of 26:43. 

The varsity boys squad also entered two 4+ boats, racing in a field of 10. The A-boat took fourth place with a time of 24:13, 1:33 behind the leader. The crew was Belmont’s Ian Gilchrist and Arlington’s Mike Tripp, Kevin Wang, Liam Lanigan, and coxswain Jessi Kirchner.

The boys 4+ B-boat was rowed by Ben Goebel, Trevor Brown, and Sam Gallagher from Arlington and Neal Mulani and coxswain Emily Savarese of Belmont. They finished tenth with a time of 26:41.

Next Sunday, Sept. 30, AB Crew will be back on the Merrimack competing in the annual Textile River Regatta in Lowell. This is a much larger regatta, with nearly 500 entries from eight states.

Submitted by David Wright.