The Arlington-Belmont Crew Club Boys’ Eights spent Sunday morning in the passing lane, far exceeding their 59th seed to finish a place out of the top 20 in the club’s best performance at the prestigious Head of the Charles Regatta, Oct. 19.

It was a good day for both ABC squads – made up of students from Arlington and Belmont high schools – as they bettered their expected placement in the world’s largest and most popular rowing event held on the Charles River between Cambridge and Boston.

In the men’s youth eights event – in which each of the rowers has one oar – Arlington-Belmont came out quickly from the start located just before the BU Bridge to reach the first timing mark on the 4.8 kilometer course at the Riverside bridge just 12 seconds behind the leaders. By the next checkmark at the Weld Bridge at Harvard University, the team, coached by Mark Grinberg, blistered a 5 minute 15 second split from the Riverside Bridge which was the 7th fastest time for that portion of the race.

But the effort to pass numerous boats and the pace got the better of the team as it slipped to 21st at the finish at Brighton’s Christian Herter Park completing the course in 16 minutes, 30.15 seconds, just 2.5 seconds from a top 20 finish. The crew – cox Brenna Sorkin; stroke Max Halliday; seat 7, Louis Pratt; seat 6, Adrian Tanner, seat 5, Liam Lanigan; seat 4, Nicholas Osborn; seat 3, Eryk Dobrushkin; seat 2, Brendan Mooney and bow Alexander Gharibian – finished less than a minute behind winners, Oakland Strokes based in Oakland, California, which finished in 15:38.65.

ABC’s girls entry in the women’s youth eights rowed its best in the early portions of the race with a strong leg between the Riverside and Weld bridges but found the going a bit tough into a steady breeze heading home. The squad – coxwin Ellen Cayer, Catherine Tiffany, bow; seat 7, Sara Hamilton; seat 6, Jessica Keniston; seat 5, Sophia Fenn; seat 4, Bridget Kiejna; seat 3, Alena Jaeger; seat 2,  Catherine Jacob-Dolan and Julia Blass as stroke – made it through the difficult course including navigating the narrow bridge openings which victimized the Montclair High School girls’ crew just before ABC swung under. 

Next Sunday, Oct. 26, the varsity and novice squads will finish the season with a trip to the Massachusetts Public Schools Rowing Association’s Fall State Championships in Worcester where the Boys’ varsity eights will defend its goal medal.

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