HHS Crew Takes First in Four of Six Races Against Shrewsbury High and St. John’s Prep
The Hingham High School Crew team launched their top three girls and boys varsity eight boats on Lake Quinsigamond this past Saturday and crossed the finish with four first place wins. The girls team competed against Shrewsbury High School, and the boys raced against both Shrewsbury and St. John’s Preparatory School.
All three HHS girls varsity eight boats won their races against Shrewsbury. The boys third varsity boat also took the top spot against Shrewsbury and St. John’s Prep. HHS boys varsity eight and second varsity eight boats both placed third in their races.
On a beautiful day at Lake Quinsigamond, the rowers competed under overcast skies with little wind and flat water throughout the 1,500 meter course.
“We knew our competition was going to show up prepared and focused, and we were going to have to earn every stroke if we wanted to come out on top,” said HHS girls Head Coach Marika Kopp. “Shrewsbury holds the most recent MPSRA title, and they are always one of the best crews we face every season.”
All six races were very competitive across the board.
The races began with the girls third varsity boats. Hingham took off with an incredibly fast start and never looked back, crossing the finish line nearly a minute ahead of Shrewsbury. Rowing for Hingham were Sadie Neidecker, Abby Brown, Grace Desai, Elena Vasilakos, Elena Bryden, Ellie Dodd, Sophie Kerr, and Mazie Neidecker, with coxswain Maddie McPhillips. This is the first spring racing season for these freshman and sophomore rowers, and the first racing season ever for novice Sophie Kerr. All the girls felt it was their best race yet. “To finish with the margin they did was pretty spectacular,” commented Kopp.
Hingham took first place in the boys third varsity race, with Shrewsbury in second, and St. John’s boats in third and fourth. Ellie Zieper coxed the HHS boys 3V boat with rowers Walker Shetty, Alex Hart, Nick Germain, Logan Littell, A.J. Rubel, Oskar Scholund, Mike Magner, and Dan Salon.
“The entire team had a great day with impressive showings and a win from the athletes in the 3V boat. Big shout out to Ellie Zieper who stepped in to cox and Coach Austin Letourney who worked with those athletes to get them to where they needed to be,” said HHS boys Head Coach John O’Neill. “The 1V and 2V boats both had great races against fast crews. We are all looking forward to our next races to keep improving.“
The girls second varsity race was neck and neck down the course as the two boats swapped places for the lead until they reached the final sprint. “And that’s where our 2V shines,” said Kopp. Hingham widened the margin to open water and won the race by seven seconds. Emma O’Horo coxed the second varsity eight boat with rowers Lily Murphy, Devon Moriarty, Helena Orth, Ella Niehoff, Anna Capodilupo, Zoe Angel, Kathryn Feeley, and Sofia Scholund.
St. John’s placed first in the boys second varsity race, followed by Shrewsbury, Hingham in third, and a second St. John’s boat in fourth place. Rowing for HHS boys 2V were Ned MacDonald, Fin Perkins, Theo Grossman, Will D’Arcy, Jake Moraites, Joey DeCola, Brennan Beitler, and Keegan Mahon, with coxswain Mike Wegener.
In the girls varsity eight (1V) race, the boats came out together off the start through the first 500 meters. Shrewsbury made the initial move to pull ahead. The Hingham girls responded with hard power-10 strokes to take over the lead. They continued to increase their lead down the course and crossed the finish line 12 seconds ahead of Shrewsbury, the largest margin Hingham has had over Shrewsbury in recent program history. HHS girls 1V included Charlotte Bogen, Kate Gallagher, Lilly Bryant, Anna Wagner, Olivia Wegener, Teagan Schnorr, Cassandra Dasco, Claire Gallagher, and coxswain Allison Tocchio.
Shrewsbury took first place in the boys varsity eight (1V) race with St. John’s two seconds behind, and Hingham crossing the finish line two seconds later. HHS boys 1V was coxed by Eric Smith and included rowers Jack Magner, Gabe Wagner, John Rogan, Tasman Claridge, Luke Turnak, James Dietterich, Cam Santarelli, and Leo Williams.
View full race results here.
“All our rowers understand that being on our team is a privilege, that success is earned and anything worth doing has to be done together. I could not be more excited about what the future has in store for Hingham Crew,” said Kopp
Hingham High Crew will be racing again this weekend—this time on the Charles River against Boston Latin School!