Nereid Season Wrap-Up

Submitted by Nereid Boat Club

The Nereid Boat Club Junior Team had an excellent showing this past June at USRowing Youth National Championships in Sarasota, Florida, where they competed with the top athletes in the country. Fifty athletes raced in eight different categories, including four first-time categories for the club. Nereid is constantly focused on pushing the club standard to new heights and continuing to compete fiercely at the national level.

Headlining the performance this year was the Girls Youth 2nd Varsity 4x, who finished 3rd — the first time medaling in this event for Nereid. Rowers Lucia Kinney, Lena Thomas, Clementine Borden, and Samantha Wainhause raced to their medal in an incredible performance of toughness and adaptability through last-minute lineup changes.

Nereid entered the Youth Girls 8+ for the first time in program history, where athletes Avery Voinov, Piper Rosenberg, Lilly Santos, Alexa Whitworth, Julia Fila, Leyla Ziemba, Sarah Newman, Olivia Mendelsohn (Rutherford, NJ), and coxswain Anna Heflin raced in one of the most competitive 8’s fields in Youth Nationals history. Time Trial finishes were extremely close, with only five seconds between 6th place and 20th place — the girls missed out on

qualifying for the semifinal by just two tenths of a second. They brought the heat heading into the C Final and finished 18th in the country, with the 5th fastest time out of all the finals.

Nereid also entered the Boys U16 8+ for the first time, where athletes Noah Chong, Logan Han, Sammy Pollak, Boris Flowers, Amir Hassan, Nate Rosenblat, Tyler Sprayberry (Rutherford, NJ), Mark Nikolov, and coxswain Maggie Lee (Rutherford, NJ) raced their way to a 4th place finish in the B Final, placing 12th overall in the country.

In the Girls Youth 4x, athletes Elliott Bullis (Rutherford, NJ), Katelyn McNamara, Lucy Parker, and Grace Saoud (Rutherford, NJ) placed 14th in the country, finishing hundredths of a second behind 13th with just three seconds separating 11th through 15th place.

Nereid entered the U17 Boys 4+ for the first time, and athletes Thomas Scarpa, Ethan Hill, Ryan Pilger, Rocco Dufkis, and coxswain Charlotte Sein (Rutherford, NJ) finished 15th overall.

In the Girls U16 4x+, Molly Dunne, Ana Blanche, Natalie Digesu, Isabella Amano (Rutherford, NJ), and coxswain Emily Sanchez proved their adaptability and perseverance after getting beached mid-race twice due to lightning. The girls raced to place 16th in the country in their event.

The Girls U17 8+ was another first time entry for Nereid. Athletes Burke Cooley (Rutherford, NJ), Elyana Negron, Alexandra Gabriel, Zaria Hallman, Sophia Ganter, Samantha Bush (Rutherford, NJ), Sofia Sanchez, Avika Tyagi, and coxswain Clover Irminger (Rutherford, NJ) won the C Final by open water and placed 17th overall.

In the Boys Youth 4+, athletes Lucas Castro-Segura, John Sprayberry (Rutherford, NJ), Dominic Searls, Mike Braunstein, and coxswain Audrey Ricciardi raced competitively in their final and placed 19th in the country.

All eight entries finished Top 20 in the United States, a major achievement at a race that increases in depth and difficulty every year. Nereid continues to expand and push the limits, and this past year was no different. Congratulations to the fifty athletes who competed at the national level and showed continuous grit, determination, and hunger for more. This hunger has pushed Nereid to compete with the best, and this relentless pursuit continues to propel the program forward.