Rowing Team Wins Medals and a Championship

Last Saturday, the Bishop O'Connell crew team competed in the Washington Metropolitan Interscholastic Rowing Association (WMIRA) Championships on the Anacostia River in Washington, D.C., winning medals in five out of six events.

Congratulations to the Knights men's First Varsity 4 (Tyler Dittmer, Tony Marrero, Collin Snyder, Jeff Dixon, Jason Pazirandeh), who posted the fastest time of all boats in the semi-finals before taking home the championship trophy, finishing ten seconds ahead of the second place boat in the final race.

In other races, two O'Connell boats earned silver medals. The Men's Second Varsity 4 battled in their final, fighting from behind to finish in second place by a margin of .06 seconds behind Walter Johnson High School. The Men's Novice Four (Tyler Dittmer, Austin Berry, Lucas Gaitan, Mikey Roche, Holden Snyder) also won a silver medal, being slightly edged out by team from DeMatha in the final race.

In a hard-fought race, the men's Third Varsity 4 (Nico Blanchfield-Felice, Nick Morales, Jack Beecy, Harrison McBride, David Williams) took fourth overall.. Earlier in the day, the men's Second Varsity 4 (Libby Scully, Alejandro DiNapoli, Josh Gardner, Cristian Marrero, Alex Damjanovic) posted the fasted time in their semi-final race over Wilson High School.

The Lady Knights also had a strong showing at this year's WMIRA Championships. O'Connell's First Varsity 8 (Ryan Brideau, Kristina Colevas, Emma Morris, Julia Bailey, Maggie McLellan, Claudia Reing, Abby Clukey, Sarah Kelley, Devin Christensen) battled back after being down off of the start, finishing in a close third place. The Women's Second Varsity 8 (Selene Swanson, Riley McGovern, Sam Venkatesh, Sarah Pachon, Erin Stuver, Allie Celemente, Geri D'Archengelo, Claire Stemberger, Carly Swason) qualified for their final race, where they placed third.