Belmont Students Head to the Charles on Sunday For a Long Row

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Photo: Arlington-Belmont Crew at the Head of the Charles.
The 2016 Head of the Charles, rowing’s annual “Woodstock” and one the largest congregation of athletes outside of the Olympics with 11,000 participants, will be well represented by Belmont High School students on the event’s second day, Sunday, Oct. 23. 

As members of the Arlington-Belmont Crew Club – made up of high schoolers from both towns – the hometown athletes will be rowing in three youth competitions:
  • 10:05 a.m.: Women’s Youth Eights (bow #41)
  • 11:33 a.m.: Men’s Youth Fours (bow #36)
  • 12:43 p.m.: Men’s Youth Eights (bow #14 – which is ABRC’s highest seed.)
The Belmont High School students rowing and coxing on Sunday include:
  • Emma Gharibian, Melissa Bazakas-Chamberlain, Alena Jaegar, Sophia Haska, Casey Reed and Alexia Assimakopoulos in the Women’s Youth Eights.
  • Nick Krom, Lucas Abeln and Nick Hanify in the Men’s Youth Fours.
  • Charlie Yeh, Adam Cronin, Joe Wenzel and Ian McCabe in the Men’s Youth Eights.
Arlington-Belmont Crew is a club team open to students who attend Belmont and Arlington high school. No prior rowing experience is necessary. 
To learn more, speak to a member of the team or read about the team at its website.

Lightweights? Hardly as Arlington-Belmont Crew Light Fours Score Second at Nationals

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Photo: The A-B Crew light fours which came in second in the Youth National Championships in Sarasota, Fla on June 14. 

They took four boats and two dozen high school rowers 1,400 miles to Sarasota, Florida to compete against 1,700 of the best young rowers at USRowing 2015 Youth National Championships held last weekend in the Sunshine State.

And the Arlington-Belmont Crew Club didn’t travel all that way last weekend without demonstrating its rowing prowess against some of the most established schools and clubs from across the country.

In only their second trip to the nationals, the club – in only its tenth year – returned home with some impressive silverware in their carry-on. 

In the finals held Sunday, June 14, the A-B crew’s Lightweight Varsity Boys Fours with cox win came in  second, signifying being the second best boat in the country, trailing only the Cincinnati Junior A’s as the quartet traveled the 2,000-meter course in 6 minutes and 43.1 seconds.  

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Arlington-Belmont Crew’s Lightweight Fours; (from left) Trevor Corning, Brendan Mooney, Coach Mark Grinberg, Andrea Abanto (cox), JD Tiffany and Eryk Dobrushkin.

The Mark Grinberg-coached boat included cox Andrea Abanto, Brendan Mooney, JD Tiffany, Eryk Dobrushkin and Belmont’s Trevor Corning.

In addition to the light fours, Arlington-Belmont crews made impressive showing against dozens of teams from across the country: 

  • Lightweight Varsity Girls Eights finished 11th (Ellie Cayer (cox), Catherine Tiffany, Callie Abouzeid, Sara Hamilton, Sarah Osborn, Abi Judge, Alena Jaeger, Lizzie Ferrante and Julia Blass),
  • Lightweight Varsity Boys Eights was 13th (Julian Green (cox), Dylan Ryan, Trevor Brown, Owen Niles, Tony Chen, Steven Chen, Anthony DiFranco, Devin Bemis and Adam Cronin) and
  • Heavyweight Varsity Boys Fours was 14th (Brenna Sorkin (cox), Alexander Gharibian, Liam Lanigan, Adrian Tanner and Max Halliday).

Three Arlington-Belmont Crew Boats Heading to Rowing Nationals in June

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Photo: The Arlington-Belmont crew at the Head of the Charles. 

They might be considered “lightweight”, but there is nothing insubstantial about the Arlington-Belmont Crew, the rowing club with students from Belmont and Arlington high schools that began in 2005.

At this weekend’s 2015 USRowing Northeast Youth Championships held on the Merrimack River in Lowell, three A-B “lightweight” boats qualified and will be traveling to the USRowing Nationals in Florida next month.

The term lightweight refer to the weight of each rower not exceeding 150 lbs for men and 130 lbs for women.

The A-B men’s lightweight four (four rowers using one oar each) took first, beating the Dublin School by four and a half second, crossing the line in 7 minutes, 4.9 seconds. 

The men’s lightweight eight took second (6:30.1) behind Boston Community Rowing, edging out Brookline High School by half a second. 

The women’s lightweight eight finished behind Saugatuck Rowing, finishing second in 7:27.3.

 The 2015 USRowing Youth National Championships will be hold on June 12 to 14, in Sarasota-Bradenton, Fla.

Sports: Arlington-Belmont Crew Takes Top Prizes at State Fall Finals

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Coming off their best ever showing at the Head of the Charles Regatta, the boys from Arlington-Belmont Club Crew – made up of students from Arlington and Belmont high schools – powered their way to an overwhelming win in the prestigious Varsity Eights event at the 2014 Massachusetts Public Schools Rowing Association’s Fall State Championships.

Rowing at Quinsigamond State Park in Worcester on Sunday, Oct. 26, the A-B First Varsity boat – using the same rowers that finished 21st in the Youth Eights at the Head of the Charles: Max Halliday, Louis Pratt, Adrian Tanner, Liam Lanigan, Nicholas Osborn, Eryk Dobrushkin, Brendan Mooney, Alexander Gharibian with coxwin Brenna Sorkin – finished a full 14 seconds ahead of runners-up Wayland-Weston and Hingham, winning in 14 minutes and 20.03 seconds to defend the title the team won last year.

And the boys showed their dominance in the eights by winning the second varsity race and placing second in third varsity while taking first in the novice eights.

The A-B Varsity Girls’ Eights took home third behind winners Wayland-Weston and second Hingham, stoking home in 16:43.16 with Catherine Tiffany, Sara Hamilton, Jessica Keniston, Sophia Fenn, Bridget Kiejna, Alena Jaeger, Catherine Jacob-Dolan, Julia Blass and coxswain Ellen Cayer in the boat.

The Girls’ second varsity boat finished second in its race.

To cap off the successful fall season, A-BC coach Mark Grinberg was named last week Junior Coach of the Year in a fans poll conducted by USRowing, the national governing board. 

“Mark Grinberg guided Arlington Belmont Crew men to two consecutive Massachusetts state championships, becoming the first ever Massachusetts public school to qualify two eights for the 2014 USRowing Youth National Championships. His men’s varsity eight also won the Textile River Regatta and Massachusetts Public School Rowing Association Fall State Championship, just four years after the team had a mere six members,” read the honor. 

 

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.