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NORWALK, Conn. Six crews from Norwalk River Rowing Association earned trips to the U.S. Youth Nationals championships with solid finishes at last weekends Northeast Regionals in Worcester, Mass.
The club won gold and bronze in the Mens Youth 2-, and both crews advanced to the nationals. David Sullivan and Matt Koenigsberg won in 7:39.022, while John Massari and Alex Nicoll took second in 8:00.7.
The Mens Lightweight 4+ took second with David Sullivan, Stefan Petreski, Kyle Mikesh, Matt Koenigsberg and Matt Stout.
The Mens Varsity 2x took fourth with Hugh Woodworth and Willem Taverna. The Mens Youth Lightweight 2x took second with Petreski and Mikesh. Both crews will compete at the nationals. Joseph Blake will also attend the national meet on the NRRA boys team as a spare.
The Womens Youth 2- team of Alex Stonehill and Caroline Demko finished fourth at regionals and will also compete at nationals. It is the first time a girls crew from NRRA has qualified for the nationals in eight years.
Stonehill and Demko were members of the Womens Youth 8+ that narrowly missed earning a bid to nationals. That crew finished fourth with Stonehill, Demko, Julia Barr, Amanda Jenkins, Kylie OConnor, Allison Hoffman, Emma Vergara, Madeleine Apuzzo and Caroline Arnold.
The Mens Novice 4+ took fifth with Kris Petreski, Greg Bauerfeld, Ryan Solecki, Liam McDonough and Vishesh Ramesh. The Mens Novice 8+ crew also took sixth with John Kaelin, Brian Helms, Marten Martensson, Campbell Marsh, Ryan Cuningham, Jack McDermott, Sid Fischman, Patrick Lyon and Ramesh. The Mens Junior Varsity 4+ took third with Ronan Lane, Jens Salander, Ian Carlucci and Luke Goodwin. Both crews placed third in the semifinals to reach the finals. Novice and Junior Varsity crews do not advance to nationals.
Norwalk River Rowing is coached by Yuri Kolomiets and Bryan Pape. The six-crew delegation at nationals is a club record.
"We were impressed,'' Kolomiets said. "We thought we'd get four, so we did a little better than we expected."
NRRA is a community-based rowing organization that offers programs for a vareity of groups. It's junior competitive rowing program is building momentum, too. "I think it's a good thing for the program,'' Kolomiets said. "We're building a strong reputation."
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