KP Rowing At Metropolitan Champs

 Metropolitan NY Rowing Championships – April 21, 2012

Team results

Kings Point Rowers established themselves as contenders for top honors this season as they placed well at the Metropolitan Rowing Championships on Saturday. Capturing a gold and placing 4^th respectively, the Men’s Freshman and Varsity crews performed superbly despite poor training conditions during the past two weeks. An equally successful performance was realized by the Women’s Varsity Pair.

The Metro Championships began as a local championship amongst metropolitan New York teams and expanded to include sixteen teams from as far away as Albany and included larger teams such as Army, Fairfield University and Iona. 

Rising early is not unusual for the Rowing team but rising early to participate in Recognition activities, put in boat and shuttled across Long Island Sound to attend a regatta by CDR Gasiorek, Director of the Waterfront is rare.  Despite the heavy load, the Men’s Freshman crew captured victory. The crew of Coxswain Joseph Nasta ‘15, Stroke- Ted Sniekus ‘15, 3-Austin Boonyachai ‘15, 2-James Raphael ‘15, and Joseph Gardetto ‘15 rowed easily through their heat and into the final. While favored to at least be in the medals, the crew knew that they would have a real battle with Army and SUNY Maritime.  

Early in the race, the Kings Point rowers had difficulty finding it’s lane as the race course is unmarked. While they avoided collisions, the crew fell back off the pace of the top two crews and only managed to pull even 250 meters from the finish. Kings Point gained the lead with twenty-five strokes to go and seemed to be gaining in speed as it crossed the line first. Second place Army was a mere one and half seconds behind and SUNY was another two seconds back in third. In true rowing tradition, the crew tossed Nasta into the water following the victory.  

Due to poor weather and recent roster changes amongst the Varsity men the Varsity Men’s Four had only two practices prior to the regatta. Undaunted by the challenge, the crew of Coxswain Joseph Nasta ‘15,  Stroke – John Dohring  ‘15, 3- David Rosas ‘15, 2-Sean Welsh ‘15  , and Bow-Malek Byam ’15 easily qualified for the final with a victory in the heat. Having some difficulty in the final with crews jostling for lanes due to high winds, the Kings Pointers fell off the lead and found themselves fighting back throughout the 2000 meter race.  When the crew finally found their stride, it was able to regain some lost distance and nudge themselves into fourth place and nearly into third by the finish.   “I think that our crew had great race considering the conditions. With some good training over the next two weeks, we’ll be ready for the New York State Championships in two weeks.” commented Coach Hartwick.

Despite the odds, varsity rower Brannon Niblock ’15 teamed up with newcomer Cassandra Palma ‘15 to race in the Women’s Pair after only three practices. The impossible task of Palma learning to row on the Wednesday prior to the race and then racing became the possible when the pair rose to the occasion. While the crew was even with the leaders after 500 meters, the inexperience of the crew slowed them over the remainder of the race. “They did fantastic considering the daunting task that challenged them” said Coach Hartwick.  

The team finished 6^th amongst 15 teams in the Team Points Challenge.

The team travels to Whitney Point, NY on May 5-6 to compete in the New York Collegiat Rowing Championships.

Men’s Freshman Four – 15 entries

1^st USMMA 7:45

2. Army 

3. SUNY Maritime  

Men’s Varsity Four – 15 entries

Winning Time: 7:50

1^st Army

2^nd Dowling

3^rd SUNY Maritime

4^th USMMA 8:04 

Women’s Pair – 5 entries

Winning Time 9:22

1^st SUNY Maritime

2^nd Iona

5^th USMMA 11:10