Crusaders take on fastest high school and club programs in the country at American Youth Cup 1 Regatta
3/26/2023 11:44:00 AM
The week began with racing at the American Youth Cup 1 Regatta, where a handful of the fastest high school and club programs in the country competed on the 2,000-meter course. This race course is home to the USRowing Youth National Championship in June, which is the final and largest championship race of the season.
In its first opportunity to row since the end of the fall season, the Crusaders had a number of impressive finishes.
Max Burget and James Dodman won the U19 men’s pair event with a time of 7:32.2, seven seconds ahead of second place.
In a highly competitive U19 men’s four without coxswain, a crew of Max Burget (stroke), Isaiah Aljuwani, Liam Feeney and James Dodman (bow) placed fifth in 6:51.9 after a tight race for third with Greenwich and Sarasota. Belen Jesuit of Miami won the event.
In Burget’s third race of the day, he finished fourth out of 23 entries in the U19 single.
In the Youth men’s open eight with coxswain, an equipment failure on the way up to the start line stopped the Crusaders from racing in the semifinal and forced them to the next day’s B Final.
The crew went on to win the B final by 250 meters, a minute faster than the rest of the crews. Their time of 6:23.4 was only three seconds slower than Greenwich, the winner of the A final, who came down the course one event later with a time of 6:20.6.
The young crew consisted of James Dodman (stroke), Brendan Johnson, Peter Cross, Meer Renschler, John Hart, Kohler Stewart, Thomas Skowron, Toe Toe (bow) and coxswain Teddy Hibbard.
Team captain Evan Izatt, Alex Pusiteri and Owen Gray were also selected for the trip, which included the team getting additional practice in race lineups at Nathan Benderson Park.
“It was also a lot of fun for everyone to just be out on the water and compete against quality crews,” said coach R.J. Rubino ’09.
The team begins its spring campaign on April 15 at the Buffalo River Sprints at the Buffalo Scholastic Rowing Association.
The CHS rowing program offers an excellent summer camp for rising 6th to 9th grade boys at the Buffalo Scholastic Rowing Association. More info at canisiushigh.org/bestsummerever
