35 Gold Medals, 6 crews Qualify for National Championships
For the second year in a row, Canisius High School Rowing had a stellar performance at the New York State Rowing Championships, finishing at the top of all high schools and among the best teams overall.
(Awesome 
by Michael Perez ’25)
by Michael Perez ’25)On the 1,500-meter Fish Creek course in Saratoga Springs, crews gathered from across the Empire State this past weekend to fight for gold and attempt to qualify for the Scholastic Rowing Association of America’s Scholastic Nationals and the USRowing National Championship.
During each event, there are two championship races taking place, one between all entries for the overall New York State Championship, the other between only high school entries for the for the New York State Scholastic Championship.
Taking home 35 gold and four silver medals, the Crusaders won the overall New York State Championship in the U19 pair, U17 four and Novice four, along with New York State Scholastic Championship wins in the Junior Varsity eight, Novice eight, U16 single, a silver in the U19 four and a fourth place in the Varsity four.
These results qualify 16 Canisius High School rowers to compete in the USRowing National Championship Regatta in Sarasota, Florida on June 8-12. It also qualifies their Junior Varsity eight and four to race at the SRAA Scholastic National Championship in Oak Ridge, Tennessee on May 26-27.
Max Burget (stroke) and James Dodman (bow) led the varsity team with a commanding victory in the U19 pair. Their time of
5:17.0 was over nine seconds ahead of second place RowAmerica Rye, giving Canisius the overall state title and qualifying both rowers for the USRowing Youth National Championship.
Canisius dominated the U17 four/Junior Varsity four event with five sophomores who were part of the 2022 SRAA National Championship-winning Freshman eight. Their final time of 5:16.0 was over 10 seconds ahead of the next best crew, Long Island’s Oyster Bay Community Rowing. Liam Feeney (stroke), Isaiah Aljuwani, Meer Renschler, Thomas Skowron (bow) and cox Noah Rajecki took home gold while advancing to race at both the USRowing Youth Nationals and the SRAA Scholastic National Championships.
In the Varsity four, Liam Feeney (stroke), Evan Izatt, Max Burget and Peter Cross (bow) finished second scholastically and third overall in a tight race with multiple lead changes against Row America Rye and Saratoga High School.
This result qualifies the crew for the USRowing Youth National Championship.
In the Junior Varsity eight, Canisius finished first scholastically and third overall only behind two Row America Rye entries, one second out of second place. The crew of Max Burget (stroke), James Dodman, Mark Kadiev, Peter Cross, Toe Toe, John Hart, Kolher Stewart, Alex Pusateri (bow) and cox Teddy Hibbard qualified to race at the SRAA Scholastic National Championship.
The Canisius Freshman/Novice team had an outstanding day, with all members of the team winning gold. Rowers Owen Gray (stroke), Evan Dahl, Patrick Basil, Zack Benczkowski (bow) and cox Leo Mertz finished first scholastically and third overall in the U16 four, advancing their crew to the USRowing Youth National Championship.
Next week, the varsity Crusaders will compete at the Stotesbury Cup Regatta in Philadelphia while the freshman novice team races at the South Niagara Invitational in Welland, Ontario.
Young athletes looking to start a rewarding career in this great sport or hone their rowing skills can do so during our “Best. Summer. Ever.” camps.
Check out canisiushigh.org/bestsummerever
Students and families interested the academic, athletic and artistic excellence only found in a Jesuit education at Canisius can learn more at canisiushigh.org
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