This past weekend, the Bishop O’Connell Men’s Varsity 4+ brought home the national title from the 2015 Scholastic Rowing Association of America (SRAA) National Championship Regatta in Camden, N.J. This is the first championship for the O’Connell rowing program.
Team members on the winning boat included, Tyler Dittmer, Collin Snyder, Jeff Dixon, Jason Pazirandeh and Tony Marrero. The regatta started off on Friday with a relatively light heat for this boat, resulting in the second fasted overall time of the day and a ticket to the next round on Saturday morning. In the semifinal race, O’Connell took a very close second to Canisius (Buffalo, N.Y.), qualifying them for the Grand Final later that day.
When asked why the Men's Varsity 4+ did not sprint, Tony Marrero remarked, "Now we know what they can do. We were able to watch their move, and now we know how to react.”
The Men’s Varsity 4+ Grand Final race had a bit of a delay due to geese on the course, but the Knights did not let that faze them. The men were quickly up off of the starting blocks, and over the course of 1,500 meters, only extended their lead. The Episcopal School, the Stotesbury champions from the week before, laid down a desperate sprint in the last minute of the race, but the O’Connell men were able to hold them off. The Varsity Men's 4+ posted a national title winning time that was 1.7 seconds faster than the second place team.
The Women's Varsity 4+ (Ryan Brideau, Kristina Colevas, Emma Morris, Julia Bailey, Maggie McLellan) also qualified for the semifinals on Saturday morning after placing second in their preliminary heat and beating the Stotesbury champion from the weekend before in a last-minute sprint to the line. In the semifinal race, O’Connell’s women’s team was just barely edged out of second place, resulting in their placement into the Petite Final later in the afternoon, where they finished second overall, placing them 8th in the national standings.
Stotesbury Regatta – One week earlier, the O’Connell crew teams competed in Philadelphia in the largest youth rowing regatta on the planet. The Knights sent a total of five crews to the regatta. The system for Stotesbury is a time trial with all teams in the event, resulting in the top 12-18 teams (depending on the number of teams in the event) moving on to seeded semifinal races. From the semifinal, the top two teams in each event move to the Grand Finals.
The Men’s Varsity 4+ earned O’Connell’s first-ever Stotesbury medal with a third place finish in the Grand Final, where they were edged out by the Episcopal School (Philadelphia) and St. Joseph's Prep. The top three boats in that final were all within two seconds of each other, with the fourth place team finishing six seconds behind.
Also qualifying for semifinal races at Stotesbury were the Women’s 1st Varsity 8+ (Ryan Brideau, Kristina Colevas, Emma Morris, Julia Bailey, Maggie McLellan, Claudia Reing, Abby Clukey, Sarah Kelley, Devin Christensen) and the Women’s 2nd Varsity 8+ (Selene Swanson, Riley McGovern, Sam Venkatesh, Sarah Pachon, Erin Stuver, Allie Celemente, Geri D'Archengelo, Claire Stemberger, Carly Swason). Both raced competitively, but did not qualify for the finals.
The Men's Varsity 8+ (Libby Scully, Alex Damjanovic, Alejandro DiNapoli, Josh Gardiner, Mikey Roche, Nick Morales, Jack Beecy, Lucas Gaitan, Cristian Marrero), after a strong race in their first heat, did not move to the next round.
Rowing earlier in the day, the Men's Junior 4+ (Liam O'Brien, Austin Berry, Harrison McBride, Holden Snyder, Jack McCormick) went up against a very tough field, and did not advance out of the heats.
“The success in the past three weeks was definitely a team effort,” said Coach Greg Smith. “Each day they would push each other to achieve more, and support each other through just about anything. As for a gold at the national championship, it still feels surreal. It was special to watch this team grow from December until now. Having a national title under our belts has created a new attitude for the team, that I am confident will lead to further success in the future.”