Arlington-Belmont Boys’ Eights Just Miss Top 20, Girls’ Battle at Head of the Charles

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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.

Arlington/Belmont Eights Row Sunday at The Head of the Charles

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Both the Arlington-Belmont Crew’s Girls’ and Boys’ Eights are hoping to build on their month of successes with a strong race against some of the best youth rowing crews from around the world as they participate in the 50th Head of the Charles Regatta,the world’s largest two-day rowing event, taking place Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 18 and 19, along the Charles River in Boston and Cambridge.

The A-B crew (shortened to ABC at events) is a club sport made up of students from Arlington and Belmont high schools. The team practices on the Charles River and Spy Pond in Arlington.

Along with 10,500 fellow rowers, the A-B crews will take on the twisting and challenging – and always daunting – three mile (actually 4.8 kilometers) course known for the 400,000 spectators that line the river and stand shoulder-to-shoulder on the six bridges from the start just before the Boston University bridge to the finish at Christian Herter Park in Brighton.

The boats will take between 18 and 21 minutes to complete the course.

The A-B’s Men’s Youth Eight will start 59th in the race in which the leading boats will take off at 10:08 a.m. on Sunday, Oct. 19. The boat will carry cox Brenna Sorkin; stroke Max Halliday; seat 7 is 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. The boys’ are coached by Mark Grinberg.

The A-B’s Women’s Youth Eight will be racing with 46 (out of 85 boats) on its bow. It’s race begins at 12:48 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 19. Cox Ellen Cayer will steer the boat with Catherine Tiffany in the bow, seat 7 is 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 pulling stoke. Laura Rothman is the Eight’s coach. 

Both boats are coming off some impressive results including the boys’ taking first and the girls’ third in the New Hampshire Championships last week. And there is no rest for the crews as next weekend they will be at the Massachusetts Public Schools Rowing Association Championships where the boys’ go out to defend their gold medal.