Woodbridge novice groups excel on Occoquan

As the varsity crews prepared for the Virginia Scholastic Rowing Championships on May 9, the novice and freshman crews participated in their “championship” regatta, the Ted Phoenix Regatta, on the Occoquan this past weekend.
Amid cloudy conditions, crews from 11 schools from Northern Virginia and Maryland participated and one area school outshined the others as Woodbridge had two girls’ boats’ and a boys’ boat take home trophies.
In the girls’ novice four final, the Vikings’ novices dominated, winning the event by nearly 20 seconds over Oakton with a time of 6:21.6. The boat’s lineup was comprised of stroke Hannah Weatherington, Melissa Ward, Ashley Marinacci, bow Maggie Tallman, and coxswain Melanie Richwine. The boat, which won its prelimi-nary heat by more than 24 seconds over Oakton, had also fared well in novice events at other regattas this season. Woodbridge’s second quad of Domiabre Monroe, Jasmine Steadman, Alex Gutkowski, and Jessica McCallum also took away a first-place trophy.
The Woodbridge girls’ freshman eight boat qualified for the petite (consolation) finals in their event, but finished fourth in the race, despite showing improvement in their times from any similar race this season. The boat’s lineup consisted of Nikkole Sandman, Savannah Fader, Amanda Wassenberg, Sara Miriashtiani, Kelly McConnaughey, Brittany Hylander, Hannah Montanez, Kimberly Shaffer, and coxswain Samantha Hughes.
The Vikings’ novice eight girls’ boat was rowing well in its race when one of its rowers lost control of her oar and caused the boat to veer into the lane of Thomas Jefferson’s boat, causing the Woodbridge boat to stop rowing for awhile and ending their chances to advance to the finals by finishing fifth, according to Woodbridge boys’ coach Mike Malak.
The Woodbridge boys’ third four finished a solid second by outrowing Mt. Vernon in the final 200 meters. The Vikings finished 11 seconds behind eventual winner Fairfax, but two seconds ahead of Mt. Vernon for second. The boat’s lineup was Ryan Noel, Tyler Farr, Nathaniel Powell, Aaron Gilliam, and coxswain Zach Christovich.
Meanwhile the boys’ freshman eight finished fourth in its heat, while missing the finals by only seven sec-onds, and improving its overall time. The lineup was Douglas Radoye, Michael Conrad, Randy Thomas, Ed Scully, Lucas Wilks, Shawn Gregor, Gabriel Bowers, Namthu Nguyen, and coxswain Tyler Mazza.
This Saturday’s races in the state championships will begin at 9 a.m. but parking lots tend to fill up early, so spectators are encouraged to come early. Among the boats expected to do well is Woodbridge’s boys’ varsity first four, which is undefeated, this season and features the News and Messenger’s defending Rower of the Year, Tyler Dawson and Forest Park’s girls’ quad, which features the defending girls’ Rower of the Year, Ciera Mead. Other boats to watch include the Woodbridge girls’ varsity double featuring Allison Mayberry and Katherine Changes, who were both candidates for the Junior National rowing team, Hylton’s top boys’ varsity quad, and the Bulldogs’ girls’ lightweight four among others.