NUTLEY, NJ – The Nutley High School rowing team qualified four crews for entry into the Scholastic Rowing Association of America (SRAA) National Championships. Crews qualify directly based upon their performance at state or regional qualifying regattas. In April, the Raiders had a strong showing at State Championships and as a result, four crews were selected to participate in SRAA’s: Boys lightweight 4, Girls Lightweight 4, Girls lightweight 8, and Girls junior 4.
The National Championships were held Memorial Day Friday and Saturday on the Cooper River in Pennsauken and featured crews from 178 schools from 15 different states all across the country (including California, Texas, Arizona, Tennessee, Michigan, Maryland, Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Florida, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York, & New Jersey), Washington DC and Canada. The Raiders did a great job, as all four of the competing crews finished in the top 12 within their event categories, and the girls knocked out two reigning NJ state champions along the way.
Coach McIntyre’s lightweight four of coxswain Charlie Scorsone and rowers Andrew Irwin, Owen Morris, Max Wechter, and Matthew Scorsone rowed a nice opening heat, defeating two teams from Virginia: Oakton and Wakefield, to advance to Saturday’s semifinal races. Despite a good row, the boys did not advance to the grand final, which was eventually won by a crew from Rye New York. Coach Mac’s crew can lay claim to being one of the fastest light fours in the state as they were one of only three light fours from NJ (Atlantic City and Christian Brothers Academy) to advance into the semifinal round.
Coach Smyth’s two varsity crews also represented Nutley well as both the lightweight 4 and junior 4 advanced to semifinals on Saturday. The junior 4, Mackenzie Moraski, Daniella LaRosa, Barbara Benda, Alaina Feaster, and coxswain Danielle Swan started things off for Nutley with a nice opening heat defeating Upper Arlington from Columbus Ohio, South County from Virginia, and Harriton from Pennsylvania to send them into the round of 12. On Saturday, the girls had a good row, but the competition was just a little faster and they missed advancing to the round of six. Overall, the junior 4 finished an impressive 8th out of the 24 crews selected to compete at Nationals. The junior 4 evet was eventually won by a crew from Lower Merion, who also won Stotesbury the previous week.
The lightweight four guided by senior coxswain Marissa Daly and comprised of Meghan Mackle, senior Jazzy Delamerced, Sara Araujo, and Jennifer Ariola came the closest to making the grand-final. After defeating Rhinebeck and current state champion Kearny in their opening heat, the girls found themselves in a one of the closest races of the weekend as four crews came across the line almost simultaneously, battling for the last spot in the final. In the end, the Nutley lights missed that finals spot by a mere one second as Wakefield of Virgina came across the line at 6:06 and Nutley, Ranson-Everglades of Florida and Rye all crossed at 6:07. The girls light 4 title went to EL Crossley of Ontario Canada.
Rounding out the Nutley entries into SRAA’s was the girls lightweight 8, a crew put together by Coach Ford and Coach Scarpelli specifically to make a run at States back in April and earn an automatic bid to Nationals. The plan worked out as the light 8 led by senior coxswain Victoria Daly, defeated the current state champion, Ocean City, in their opening heat to avenge their loss at States. The rest of the lightweight 8 included Erin Veltre, Sydney Timchack, Paulina Giron, Caitlin McCue, Kelly Martin, Sara Elphick, Smantha Abernovich, and Jaileen Murillo. The lightweight 8 event did not offer semifinal races, so despite their impressive win over Ocean City, the girls did not place high enough in their heat to advance directly to the grand-final. However, when all was said and done, the Nutley light 8 was the fastest light 8 from NJ.
The coaching staff was extremely pleased with the overall performance of the crews. Last year, Nutley did not participate in National Championships, so to return this year with four crews all making an impact was tremendous.
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