Men's Junior Quad takes Silver at High School Nationals!

The North Allegheny Junior Varsity Quad gained some revenge for their Stotesbury medal disappointment with a silver medal at the Scholastic Rowing Association's High School Championship event held at Oak Ridge, Tennessee. In sunny 80 degree temperatures, Mark Dissen, Andrew Spirk, Canaan Colwick and Dan Jefferies ran a fine race in their final. After a level start, the boys moved ahead of Ridgewood on their inside and set about catching Haverford and Malvern Prep. They passed Malvern Prep (left in picture) with 700 to go and stayed around half a boat length ahead for the remainder of the race. Haverford (at top of picture), with wins in the Philly City Championships, Stotesbury and SRA's proved worthy champions as they pulled away by a couple of lengths to win by 6.8 seconds. Malvern Prep finished 1.2 seconds behind NA. The race featured the qualifiers from Philadelphia City, New Jersey State Champs, New York State Champs and Midwest Scholastic Champs.

The Oak Ridge race site, an eight hour drive, was a terrific venue with great viewing and the event ran like clockwork. The UV-laden sunshine made a pleasant change from recent Cincy and Philly exploits. Here are the medal winners with their happy coach.

See official race results, pictures (also available as Photobucket photoalbum)

The NA Tiger rowers concluded their strong spring season at the 82nd annual Stotesbury Cup Regatta. Battling fierce competition from a very strong field of 180 schools, 860 boats and almost 5,000 athletes, and amid drenching rains on Saturday, Coach Mike Bergen's team managed to advance to finals in five races, reaching 4th place twice and 5th place three times, often missing medal positions by mere seconds. Read the full story...

Five Gold Medals at 2008 Midwest Scholastic Rowing Championship!

The NA Tigers continued their strong spring showings, this time at the Midwest Scholastic Rowing Championship in Cincinnati, OH. Despite having a large portion of the Sunday races cancelled due to heavy rains and tornado warnings, NA managed to capture no fewer than five gold medals, along with one silver. All gold winners in varsity events qualified for Nationals!

Gold medals went to:

• Men's Varsity Quad (Brian Marcus, Adam Reckless, Jim Rectenwald, Alan Meininghaus)
• Women's Varsity Quad (Amanda Hirsch, Jordan Herbert, Stacey End, Maddie Gray)
• Women's Varsity Double (Jessica Kelly, Olivia Klipa)
• Men's Junior Quad (Mark Dissen, Andrew Spirk, Canaan Colwick, Dan Jefferies)
• Women's Jr Quad (Victoria Horn, Michelle Weaver, Katelyn Hilderbrand, Maria DeIuliis)

View photos:gold medal winners, race photos.

Silver medal was won by:

• Men's Varsity Quad (Logan Ellis, Daniel Borzelleca, Joel Mackay, Zac O'Neill)

Honorable mentions go to

• Men's Varsity Double (Mike McGowan, Daniel Borzelleca, 5th Saturday);
• Men's Varsity Single (Joel Mackay, 4th Saturday);
• Women's Varsity Single (Kim Gilmour, in her first Single, finishing just shy of qualifying for Sunday's finals in a very competitive race);
• Women's Varsity Double (Jordan Herbert, Maddie Gray, 4th place in finals);
• Men's Jr Eight (Kevin Huber, Canaan Colwick, Mark Dissen, Kameron Palagi, Andrew Spirk, Zach Petronic, David McQuiston, Noah Krassenstein, John Milone(cox), 4th Saturday);
• Women's JV Eight team (Kim Gilmour, Alyssa Schick, Emily Mershon, Jessica Pegher, Maro Jo Negle, Merel Duursma, Meghan Wilson, Christine Frazier, Jimmy Graner(cox)), which reached the finals, placing 6th out of 18, and recording their best ever 1500m time (5:41)
• Men's Novice Eight (Michael Durbiano, Kurt Schoffstall, Alexander Kaiser, Billy Brant, Steven Genise, Evan Solic, Matthew Shaffer, Cole Lennon, Mark Pollini(cox), 4th in Saturday's heat);
• Men's Novice 4+ (Ryan Stein, Andrew Kaiser, Kurt Schoffstall, Michael Durbiano, James Milone(cox)): 3rd in Saturday's semifinal, but did not compete in Sunday's final, which was cancelled due to weather.
• Women's Novice 4+ (Lauren Vespoli, Jennifer Milkey, Lauren Larocca, Janny Liu, Kate Nescott(cox), 4th in Saturday's heat);
• Women's Freshmen Eight (Lauren Vespoli, Janny Liu, Jennifer Milkey, Skylar Jones, Lauren Larocca, Taylor Milligan, Michelle Benson, Liz Craig, Kate Nescott(cox), 4th Saturday);

Full results are also available: Saturday's Qualifying Races and Sunday's Finals Races

Three Gold, Four Silver Medals at Scholastic Sprints

The NA Tigers appeared in full force at the Scholastic Sprints in beautiful Moraine State Park and again failed to disappoint.

Gold medals were won by

• Varsity Men's Double (Logan Ellis/Zac O'Neill),
• Varsity Men's Single (Ryan Mohan) and
• Varsity Women's Single (Olivia Klipa).

Silver went to

• Varsity Men's Single (Joel Mackay),
• Varsity Women's Double (Jordan Herbert/Maddie Gray),
• Varsity Women's Single (Lauren Skoog), and
• the Men's JV Eight squad (Mark Dissen, Jim Rectenwald, Andrew Spirk, Dan Jefferies, Kevin Huber, Noah Krassenstein, David McQuiston, Zach Petronic, Jimmy Graner(cox)).

Other teams that reached the finals were

• Men's Varsity Eight ( Brian Marcus, Adam Reckless, Mark Dissen, Jim Rectenwald, Alan Meininghaus, Ryan Mohan, Andrew Spirk, Dan Jefferies, John Milone (cox)),
• Men's Varsity Double (Mike McGowan, Daniel Borzelleca),
• Women's JV Eight (Kim Gilmour, Jessica Pegher, Emily Mershon, Merel Duursma, Mary Jo Negle, Alyssa Schick, Leah Ference, Christine Frazier, Meghan Wilson(cox)), as well as
• Women's Novice Four (Lauren Vespoli, Jennifer Milkey, Lauren Larocca, Janny Liu).

See Full Results of the Scholastic Sprints Race.

See photo album.

Tigers score three First Places at Manny Flick Race

The NA Tigers ventured out to the Fifth Manny Flick Race on the Schuylkill River. This race was part of a five-week event where medals were awarded based on cumulative scores. Despite this being our first race of the spring season, NA Tiger rowers managed to lay claim to three first places:

• Men's Varsity Quad (Brian Marcus, Adam Reckless, Ryan Mohan, Alan Meininghaus), who dealt a crushing blow to second place Absegami, leaving them 42 seconds behind.
• Men's JV Quad (Mark Dissen, Jim Rectenwald, Andrew Spirk, Dan Jefferies)
• Women's JV Quad (Victoria Horn, Michelle Weaver, Katelyn Hilderbrand and Maria DeIuliis)

NA also finished third in three races:

• Men's Varsity Ltwt Double (Logan Ellis, Zac O'Neill)
• Women's Varsity Quad (Jessica Kelly, Amanda Hirsch, Stacey End, Olivia Klipa)
• Women's Varsity Single (Lauren Skoog)

See Full Results of the Fifth Manny Flick Race.

See photo album.

2008 Race: NA Finished First in Combined Results

On the first Saturday of each March, hundreds of high school rowers from across Western Pennsylvania come together at North Allegheny to test their strength and speed in a series of simulated 2000 meter rowing races. Races are held in the categories of novice, junior varsity and varsity for both boys and girls. Flyweight, lightweight and open weight classes further segment the contests.

Medals are awarded to the top three finishers in each race and the top six finishers earn points towards the team competition. Trophies are awarded to the top men's team, top women's team and top combined team.

The 2008 event took place on Saturday, March 1 at McKnight Elementary School.

In 2008, 273 young athletes competed, accompanied by the clapping, cheering and chanting of a packed house of fans.

North Allegheny finished first overall, with a total of 128 points. Taylor Allderdice took the number two spot with 98 points, and Fox Chapel finished third with 77 points.

Mount Lebanon took the award for the top women's team with a score of 71 points to runner-up North Allegheny's 67. North Allegheny's men finished third with 61 points, 16 behind first-place Fox Chapel and eight points behind second-place Taylor Allderdice.

Visit these links for more information: Photos, Event Summary Times, Race Results Report, Women's Team Points, Men's Team Points, Combined School Results, Index of School Name Abbreviations