October 7, 2021 by Holly Moriarty
Both girls varsity eight-boats placed third in their races.
The Hingham High School Crew team competed in their first fall regatta since 2019 and brought home two medals! Rowing teams from public and private high schools across the Northeast raced in the Textile River Regatta this past Sunday on the Merrimack River in Lowell.
The Textile River Regatta is a 4,500 meter race with boats setting off at staggered start times for each event. With temperatures in the low 60s, the day was partly cloudy with some light rain during a portion of the girls varsity one race.
Cancelled in 2020, the regatta had limited capacity this year. The HHS Crew team could enter only their top two boys and girls eight-boats (eight rowers and coxswain). Those four boats performed spectacularly.
The HHS girls first varsity boat took third place out of 15 with a time of 17:02. The V-1 boat included rowers Charlotte Bogen, Abby Brown, Devon Moriarty, Teagan Schnorr, Marissa Matthews, Helena Orth, Sadie Neidecker, Elena Vasilakos, and coxswain Maddie McPhillips.
The girls second varsity boat also placed third, out of 14, with a time of 18:39—just half a second behind the second place boat. Coxed by Alexa Fox, V-2 rowers included Sophie Kerr, Maisie Knies, Grace Desai, Kathryn Feeley, Bayan Traiba, Anna Capodilupo, Sofia Scholund, and Mazie Neidecker.
“It was great to be back out on the race course!” said Marika Kopp, HHS Crew program director and head coach for the girls team. “Both of the girls crews medaled and were within 20 seconds of first place. That’s a fantastic position to be in this early in the season. The athletes are feeling energized and are ready to work hard to close that gap.”
The HHS boys varsity boats both placed in the top half of their events. The boys varsity one boat came in eighth out of 18 boats with a time of 15:38, and included Cam Santarelli, Gabe Wagner, Nathan Tesler, Tasman Claridge, Will D’Arcy, Joe Decola, Ned MacDonald, A.J. Rubel, and coxswain Ethan Burt.
The boys varsity two placed sixth out of 18 boats with a time of 16:21. Mike Magner, Keegan Mahon, Colin Menuchi, Logan Littell, Walker Shetty, Josh Bradshaw, Dylan Drew, and Dan Salon rowed for V-2 with Mike Wegener as coxswain.
“The boys crews performed really well and came out ahead of some of the crews they faced last spring,” said Kopp. “It’s great to see their hard work on the windy Hingham harbor pay off on race day!”
Hingham High Crew competes again this Sunday at the New England Junior & High School Regional Championship Regatta in Worcester.
The team is also training for the Head of the Charles later this month with five boats competing: boys varsity eight-boat, and girls varsity eight-boat, four-boat, double, and single boats.