Great weekend of racing by PCRA's athletes at Mercer Sprints
This past weekend, PCRA traveled to West Windsor, NJ to compete in one of the toughest youth competitions in the USA. This year PCRA had breakout performances in several races, taking the competition head on and thriving. Bolstered by a very successful and productive winter season, our athletes picked up three medals, two runner-ups, and a petite final qualification. PCRA's athletes put on a tough, gritty performance, and pushed their competition the whole way down the course.
PCRA continues to show signs of a very bright future, as the novice teams picked up two medals and a 4th. The boys novice quad of Jack Robbins, Brad Levine, Jake Kroell and Christian Shiels took home a gold medal, leading wire to wire besting Norwalk Rowing by 4 seconds. The girls novice quad of Maya Spunberg, Kathryn Alexander, Willow Adler and Molly Bidwell, fell behind early catching an oar on a buoy early in the race. Having to stop to fix the issue, the girls fell into last place by a large margin, however once fixed they took off, storming through the field to earn a bronze medal, and nearly catching the two race leaders. The girls novice 8+ rowed to a strong 4th place finish, with some of these girls only having begun rowing one month ago! PCRA's young athletes continue to plant seeds of success that the club will be looking to sow in the years to come!
The varsity team also had a breakout performance, headlined by the girls varsity lightweight 4+, which out-fought a crosstown rival boat for 2nd place. Morgan McLean, Jules Prisco, Dana Walters, SJ O'Conner, and coxswain Claire Gilman found neck and neck at the half way mark. The new combination were relentless in the base, and gradually moved out to a 3 second lead, earning them a silver medal behind perennial powerhouse Mercer. With only two to qualify for the A final, the varsity girls quad (Gabby Sabia, Kaitlyn Rubbo, Megan Samuelson, Mary Fleming) had a close fought heat that saw them closing hard on 2nd place but running out of room, finishing third 1.4 seconds away from the A final. In their B final the next day, the quartet took second place, a full 9 seconds ahead of third.
The boys varsity took the toughest event at the regatta head on, racing the boys varsity eight. Though the squad did not achieve the tangible finish they were capable of, they earned valuable race experience and are positioned well against their regional competition heading into the second half of their regatta calendar.
PCRA next travels to Bayville, NY on May 6th to compete in the Long Island Junior Rowing Championships. Go PCRA!