Arlington’s three public high-school crew teams saw significant highlights during the two prestigious season-ending out-of-town regattas.
The most notable performance was that of the Yorktown Patriots boys varsity eight shell.
At the Stotesbury Cup Regatta in Philadelphia, that eight placed fourth in the finals. Then, at the Scholastic Rowing Association of America national meet in Oak Ridge, Tenn., the same shell placed third.
Those finishes are thought to be the highest by any boys varsity eight in both events in the 59-year history of the Yorktown crew program.
“There was a lot of gratification in the way the season ended,” Yorktown boys head coach Fabriana Velasquez told ARLnow. “It was nice to see them finish that way, and how everything came together like that.”
Rowing in lane two, Yorktown’s time in the national finals was 4:36.59. The winning time was 4:32.79, with second place 4:35.34. Prior to the finals at nationals, Yorktown won its heat, then finished second in the semifinals, with each race held the same day. The finals were the next day.
The Yorktown eight returned seven members to this year’s boat, which previously won a state championship this spring.
The shell consisted of eight rowers — seniors Fedir Melnyk, Eliot Koide, Declan Leighton, Thomas Totten, Alexander Wilson, Riley Nelson and Lachlan Vaughn plus junior Noah Starck. The coxswain was senior Matthew Gaull.
“We knew they had the potential to do this and make a mark at Stotesbury and nationals,” Velasquez said. “The water conditions were rough at Stotesbury, but the kids remained super resilient.”
“All of the guys in the eight were all confident in their personal ability to execute,” Velasquez said.
Totten will row at the U.S. Naval Academy, Gaull at Union College and Leighton at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Totten said the eight continued to have strong team culture all season and were able to compete against and defeat teams that would not have been possible three years ago.
“Most of our guys have been rowing together since freshman year,” Totten said. “At no point this season were we ever unconfident in one another. The coaching staff created a training plan centered around creating a team, not just one boat, dedicated entirely to each other.”
Also for the Yorktown boys at Stotesbury, the second eight finished third.
Members of that squad were Ethan Carmen, Jackson McTavish, Robbie McLaughlin, James Daniel, Will Sanne, Austin Sproles, Johnny Connell, Brendan Harris and Nick Chase.
Also at the nationals for Yorktown, that same boys second eight placed fifth in the finals and the girls varsity eight was sixth in the petite final, held for boats with times that just missed qualifying for the finals.
W-L girls junior eight finishes second: For the Washington-Liberty Generals crew team at Stotesbury, the girls junior eight had the highest finish with a second-place in the finals.
The boat consisted of juniors Marina Soderlund, Matilda Nixon, Amelie Kvalevog, Oyane Ondias-Souna, Amelia Klancnik, Morgan Thomas and coxswain Julia Pinto and sophomores Kylie Combs and Oko Odhuu.
Also for W-L, the boys varsity eight and boys second varsity eight advanced as far as the semifinals.
Wakefield reaches semifinals: For the Wakefield Warriors crew team, the boys and girls varsity eights both advanced as far as the semifinals at Stotesbury. The girls varsity eight entered the regatta as the multi-time state champion.
Then at nationals, the girls varsity eight and the boys varsity eight each raced in the petite finals. The girls finished fourth and the boys fifth.
At Stotesbury, the girls varsity eight was third its semifinal and the boys varsity eight fourth in its semifinal.
One of the rowers for the Wakefield girls eight was senior Anna Duall. She was the first rower in the program’s history to be a member of four straight girls state-championship varsity eight shells.
