Nutley HS crew excels at Flick 5 in tune-up for State Championships

The Nutley High School crew traveled to Philadelphia for Flick 5, the final race in the Manny Flick-Horvat Series of racing on the Schuylkill.

With over 80 teams in attendance, Flick 5 was easily the largest race NHS will attend, even bigger than state championships, before the postseason championship season begins.

Conditions were nearly perfect as the Raider rowers performed admirably, setting themselves up well for Saturday’s State Championship Races. Results from Flick 5 will be used to seed every crew in every event for the NJ State Championships on Saturday, and Coach Kevin Smyth was very pleased with where the Nutley crews finished compared to the other NJ schools competing.  

The varsity girls continued their winning ways as the junior 4 of Swan, Feaster, Benda, LaRosa, and Moraski placed third overall out of 28 crews, finishing ahead of every other NJ school.  First and second were crews from Pennsylvania. Given these results and the fact that the girls haven’t lost to any other crew all year, they should be ranked No. 1 going into state championships.  

Smyth’s lightweights (Daly, Mackle, Delamerced, Araujo, and Ariola) won their flight, defeating Agnes Irwin, Moorestown, and Charter School of Wilmington.  Overall their time placed them third of nine, but also as the second fastest light 4 from NJ behind only Absegami, which should rank them very high as well for States.

Coach McIntyre’s premier lightweight 4 (Scorsone, Wechter, Irwin, Morris and Scorsone) rowed an eye-opening race from the dead zone of lane six, and placed fourth overall of 12 and, more importantly, finished as the second fastest light 4 from NJ. The boys should also receive a top tier seeding for State Championships.  The boys senior 4 finished 16th of 23 and No. 7 in NJ.

The novices were not to be denied their chance to join in the top placements as Coach Apicella’s novice four crew (Brendan Somers, Jack Coulson, Paul Schaefer, Tyler Armstrong, and Javier Larrinaga) finished as the No. 3 NJ school and fourth overall of 15 and Coach Scarpelli’s freshmen 4 placed second for NJ schools and his novice 4 (third of nine overall) was the fastest NJ school.  Both coaches are looking forward to a favorable seeding and strong performances out of their top novices at States.  

The JV crews also continued to improve, moving up the rankings of NJ schools at the races. The boys JV8 placed seventh for NJ and 14th out of 22 overall, while the girls JV8 finished as the No. 4 NJ school, 10th of 14 overall.  Both “eights” are working hard, but for State Championships, Coach Ford may rearrange the boys lineup and she may subdivide the girls crew a little differently to maximize performance potential.  

Seedings and lane assignments for Saturday’s State Championship races should be available on Thursday.  Crews that finish in the top three spots for junior, senior, and lightweight events at States earn an automatic bid into the SRAA National Championships in late May.  

  Nutley High School crew