Pine-Richland crew gearing up for 1st spring race

By: HSSN Staff
Friday, April 6, 2018 | 4:18 PM

After a successful fall season and a winter that refuses to quit, the Pine-Richland crew team is itching to get outside and onto the water.

Unfortunately for coach Sam DiMarzio and his rowers, their first scheduled competition won't take place until April 21, when they head to Zanesville, Ohio, to participate in the Dillon Lake Scholastic Sprints. Until then, they are trying to take advantage of any opportunity they can to get outside.

“(Last week), we needed to go out to reopen the boathouse, and I gave the team the option of being on the water. I told them it would be freezing and that we can just go back and practice inside, but the overwhelming answer for them was that they wanted to get on the water and get ready for the season,” DiMarzio said.

“The water was cold, but, yeah, four months indoors will kind of do that to you.”

Once they begin competitive events, the boys and girls teams already are geared up with combinations of rowers who appear poised to make some waves.

For the girls, it's a boat of four that should be competing at a high level come April 21, with team captain Grace Crankovic rowing alongside Kristen Vigna, Ashley Moreland and Vivian Chan. Freshman Alex Catalano will serve as the coxswain.

“They rowed all together as novices last year. That group is made up of one junior, three sophomores, a freshman coxswain so they're still young, but they actually have a ton of experience. With them being so young, I think there's still a lot of potential for growth in this Spring season,” DiMarzio said.

This season, the boys top boat likely will be a double composed of experienced rowers Michael Peck and captain Chris Oberst. Peck and Oberst have been a part of the program for a longer period of time then they have spent in high school, and, DiMarzio said, that experience shows.

“Those guys, they've made up the core of our team for the past couple of years. They were in a varsity four group in the fall, but I think they'll probably be a double here in the spring,” DiMarzio said.

“They were on our middle school team so they've been around for five (or) six years at this point. They bring more then the normal amount of experience for seniors, and they are a tough duo to compete against. It's a talented duo, and they've really helped bring along some of the younger boys on the team.”

Kevin Lohman is a freelance writer.

Tags: Pine-Richland