Five boats from Princeton National Rowing Association’s Mercer Rowing Club competed at USRowing Youth National Championships June 13 to 15.
The Mercer rowers were joined by athletes from 133 clubs and high school rowing programs from 26 states at the competition at Lake Natoma near Sacramento, Calif. All five Mercer boats competed in the finals on Sunday.
For the first time in the club’s history, Mercer’s women’s youth eight plus coxswain boat reached the Grand ‘A’ final to compete against five other crews for the national title. The team finished fifth against the Oakland Strokes, OKC Riversport, Connecticut Boat Club, Sarasota Crew and Mt. Baker Crew. The title went to Oakland.
The Mercer crew featured high school junior Rena White, senior Beatrice Sclapari and sophomore Caitlin Cleary of Princeton, sophomore Kate Hickey of Yardley, Pa., juniors Kelly Fischer and Badia Shehab of Hopewell, junior Hayley Bork of Robbinsville, junior Alex Natale of Basking Ridge, and senior coxswain Noa Rothstein of Newtown, Pa.
Mercer’s men’s youth eight with coxswain finished 13th in the nation by winning the ‘C’ final by open water on Sunday afternoon. The crew featured seniors Finn Ludwig, Sean Kelly and junior Dan Gleim of West Windsor, senior Tom Walker and juniors Aaron Goodman, Elias Abilheira, Alex Levine of Princeton, sophomore Kevin Borup of Monmouth Junction and coxswain junior Matt Perez of Robbinsville.
The women’s youth lightweight four with coxswain finished fourth and the men’s youth lightweight four with coxswain finished tenth in the nation.
The women’s lightweight crew featured junior Catherine Keve of Cranbury, sophomore Jenna Kugel of Montgomery, sophomore Kathryn Miller and freshman Lauren Miller of Hamilton and coxswain junior Kate Edmondson of Westfield.
The men’s lightweight crew featured senior Dylan Mann of Lawrenceville, junior Ron Haines of Hamilton, junior Mark Hayton of Hopewell, junior Griffin Petri and coxswain sophomore Nikhil Modi of West Windsor.
Both of the lightweight fours missed the chance to go straight from heats to semifinals but prevailed in the repechage round Saturday morning to earn spots in the semifinal round Saturday afternoon.
Rounding out the Mercer boats, the women’s youth four with coxswain placed sixteenth. The crew featured junior Rachel Calabro of Robbinsville, senior Kate Sessa of Monroe Township, senior Madeline Day of West Windsor, sophomore Rachel Mumau of Millstone Township and coxswain junior Katarina Stough of Princeton.
More information is online at rowpnra.org.
