The Princeton National Rowing Association’s Mercer Rowing Club won nine gold medals in Saint Catherines, Ontario at the 133rd Royal Canadian Henley Regatta, the premier summer event for amateur rowers in North America.
The club’s performance topped last year’s five gold medals in junior events and was an appropriate send-off for Ted Sobolewski, PNRA/Mercer program manager and girls coach. Sobelewski will leave the club to assume the role of Associate Head Coach for Men’s Rowing at Northeastern University.
“We wanted to perform well because this was our last regatta with Coach Ted,” said co-captain Kate Hickey of Yardley. The girls won Henley gold in seven of the nine events they entered. “Coach Ted first brought us to Canadian Henley in 2013, and we didn’t win any events that year. He believed in us, and we improved a lot because of his coaching and training plans. Now we love this regatta because we get so many opportunities to race great competitors.
“With heats, semifinals and finals, some of the girls had fourteen races over the five days of the regatta.”
Added co-captain Caitlin Cleary of Princeton: “Coach Ted will be greatly missed by the entire program, but thanks to the environment of hard work he fostered, and the high expectations he instilled in us, PNRA/Mercer will continue to be a strong contender on the national level,”
The PNRA/Mercer boys won their first two Henley gold medals ever, enjoying success in the under age 17 (U17) eight plus coxswain event and U17 four plus coxswain event.
“I’m really proud of the U17 guys,” boys’ coach Justin Ochal commented. “They got a taste of winning and what hard competition is all about. The whole program performed exceptionally well, and we saw good racing all week.”
The gold medal winning PNRA/Mercer crews were: U17 Men’s 8 with coxswain – Daniel Stoddard (West Windsor), Andrew Hickey (Yardley), Erik Wicks (Holmdel), Philip Collins (Lawrenceville), Jack Gallagher (Newtown), Andrew Moss (Princeton), Brian Karp (Princeton), Tyler Harris (Princeton Junction) and coxswain Katelyn Takacs (Lawrenceville); and the U17 Men’s 4 with coxswain – Stoddard, A. Hickey, Gallagher, Collins, and coxswain Takacs.
Also, U23 Lightweight Women’s 8 with coxswain – Rena White (Princeton), K. Hickey, Kathryn Miller (Hamilton), Sheila Kennedy-Moore (Cranbury), Jenna Kugel (Skillman), Elise Gorberg (West Windsor), Anna Heckler (Colts Neck), Eileen Hu (West Windsor), and Madeline Alden (Princeton); U23 Women’s Lightweight Pair – K. Hickey and White; U19 Women’s 8 with coxswain – White, K. Hickey, Katherine Lustig (Newtown), Celia Varga (Princeton) Hayley Bork (Robbinsville), Kelly Fischer (Hopewell), Sabrina Marki (Bedminster), Rachel Mumau (Millstone Township), and coxswain Sydney Holgado (Robbinsville); and U19 Women’s 4 with coxswain – White, K. Hickey, Mumau, Bork, and coxswain Colleen Gillis (Freehold Township).
Also, U19 Women’s Pair – K. Hickey and White; U17 Women’s 8 with coxswain – Sara Hansen (West Windsor), Varga, Lustig, Lauren Miller (Hamilton), Bridget Parker (Princeton), Mia Barkenbush (West Windsor), Gwyneth Lavery (Lawrenceville), Isabel Roemer (Princeton), and coxswain Caroline Galati (Princeton Junction); U17 Women’s 4 with coxswain – Hansen, Varga, Lustig, K. Miller, and coxswain C. Galati.
