Haddon Hammer Coaches Recap and Results
Hearty congratulations to all who attended the very competitive 2012 Haddon Hammer NJ Indoor Rowing Championship over the weekend. In addition to having several medalists among you, many had personal bests with most of our upperclassmen having significant improvements from last year’s event. In fact, almost all of you improved your times, with a few of you knocking nearly a minute off your time from 2011 and many of you knocking off 15-30 seconds. An already competitive group of dedicated athletes just keep getting better and you should all be very proud of yourselves and encouraged for the spring season.
The day started with the Novice Boys and they didn’t disappoint. Led by Nick LoBosco with a best ever Eustace Novice Hammer time of 7:05.6, Nick earned a Silver Medal and was followed closely by Adam Marchionne in 4th place and Curtis Bechtel in 6th… Spectacular!
Next up were the very fast Lightweight Boys led by junior Phil Kramarski who had a personal best of 6:51.4, and several teammates followed with personal bests of their own. The final event for the boys was a tough Heavyweight field which for us was led by sophomore Steve Robbins with a time of 6:54.6. By comparison, Steve’s time would have won the event in 2011. Times this year, and the competition, in both the boys lightweight and heavyweight divisions were fast-fast. Our guys came with their “A Game” and showed some fast times of their own! Well Done!
On the girls’ side, first up were the Novice Girls with strong first performances by Katie Dressel, Gabby Bianchi, and Kristina Avellino. They were followed by our super contingents of Lightweight and Openweight Girls. In the Lightweight division, junior Courtney Acito led the way with a personal best shattering 7:57.7, good for a Silver Medal and besting her performance from last year by nearly half a minute! Courtney was followed closely by junior Katie Dove and a whole bunch of standard setters from within our lightweight ranks. The Openweight division was led by junior Christina Alleva with a Silver Medal performance of 7:31.0, a time that, again, would have won the division in 2011! Strong performances were given by the team as a whole too. Though we did not repeat as overall champions (Hammer Winners), we showed very well, and, in the end, were beaten out for the Hammer by our friends and competitors in our boathouse from Moorestown by a mere 40 seconds total time (calculated on 8 best performances from 2 srs, 2 jrs, 2 sophs, 2 frosh).
In the Coxswains Challenge, juniors Maddie Capella and Lauren Biernacki took Gold and Silver respectively over a large group that included a bunch of Moorestown coxswains… Nice!
Last but not least, there was a huge amount of support for the rowers by their teammates and coxswains. Behind every rower, in every event, there was a teammate helping with encouragement and guidance… and, in the stands, teammates and parents were there in full force… Thank you all!
Coach Tom