The Bainbridge Island Rowing Club’s Junior Men’s Novice Four won its heat at Saturday’s 40th Annual Green Lake Spring Regatta and posted the overall fastest time in its category to highlight BIRC’s first-ever competition.
Two of the other four BIRC boats placed in their respective heats.
Coach Jay Trinidad said, “Without a doubt, an impressive debut for unknown and untested crews.”
Coxed by Alex Riede, the Junior Men led the 1,000 meter race by no more than a boat length at the halfway mark. With 200 meters left, Greenlake began its move. But Bainbridge held off Greenlake to capture the win. Peter Mandell was stroke, joined by Rory Hiett, Francis Toglia and Ross Henshaw.
“In the weeks leading up to the regatta, they’d been struggling with their timing and power,” Trinidad said. “Things seemed to come together for these guys at exactly the right time. Riede drove them hard.”
The Junior Women’s Novice 8 began the day for BIRC. Despite a rough start, Bainbridge was in the middle of the pack at the halfway mark. With 220 meters to go, the boat surged past Greenlake to finish second behind Holy Names and second overall in all heats.
“Adrian Hodos (the coxswain) did a great job handling the crew,” said coach Sue Trinidad. “She steered a perfect course. And the girls really showed a lot of guts holding off the sprint by Greenlake.”
Callie Carver and Meredith Blumenthal were the stroke pair, and the other six rowers were Karlyn Adams, Rachel Becker, Jeane Foy, Stephanie Holliday, Caitlin Kleinschmidt and Kira Pickering.
Then the team’s A boat, composed of novices, competed in the JV Junior Women’s 8. Lead by the stroke pair of Amanda Johncock and Blumenthal, the girls proved their strength and showed their potential by claiming third, less than a boat length behind second-place Mount Baker. Carver, Rachel Johncock, Julia Knight, Megan Magraw, Hannah Raymond and Lauren Rundberg were the other rowers. After the race, Sue Trinidad said “they raced and beat girls who have been training and racing for more than a year and half.”
The Junior Men’s 8 entered a 10-boat Varsity B race due to a lack of space in Novice and JV heats and finished last, though their time would have placed them fourth of ten had they raced in their actual category. Mandell was stroke, and the others were Henshaw, Hiett, Seth Jacobson, Ethan Narimatsu, Kiel Reijnan, Josh Rosenberg and Toglia.
“There is a lot more speed to be found in this boat,” coach Morgan Seeley told the rowers after the race. “You are probably racing at only 60% of your potential. We need to work on efficiency.”
In the team’s final race, the Junior Women’s JV Four – the two Johncocks, Rundberg and Knight – finished last in a field of twelve. The girls, all of whom had rowed in the earlier JV 8, showed signs of fatigue in the last 300 meters of the race. Their time would have placed them second in a field of nine in the Novice category.
“We probably should have raced this boat in the Novice race,” admitted Jay Trinidad. “But I’m confident that when Regionals rolls around in late May, this boat will be contending.”
Sue Trinidad observed that “One of the greatest things about this past weekend was overhearing people say ‘Bainbridge? Who are they? I didn’t even know they had a team.’” Jay Trinidad added, “After the boys’ race, one of the other juniors coaches came up to me and remarked how well our teams were doing. It made me feel very proud of the hard work these kids have been putting in.”
The next regatta will be Seattle Spring Sprints on Lake Washington on April 20th. Teams will row 1500 meters, rather than the 1000 meters at Green Lake.
