Hornets Row to Medals at Wy-Hi Rowing Regatta

Traveling to Wyandotte for the second time in two weeks, the Saline Hornets crew team was able to build on last week’s successful showing at the Hebda Cup with six more event medals and a third place team total for the Saline women. Wyandotte Boat Club played host again this week, this time hosting the 2012 Wy-Hi Rowing Regatta. Fourteen Michigan high school teams including Ann Arbor Huron, Cranbrook, Crestwood, East Grand Rapids, Forest Hills Central, Forest Hills Eastern, Forest Hills Northern, Carlson, Grosse Ile, Lowell, Riverview, Roosevelt, Southgate and Saline competed Saturday on the seven lane, 1,500 meter course on the Detroit River, just south of downtown Detroit.

The morning started with heat races and the Men’s Varsity 4, Women’s Varsity 4, Women’s Junior Varsity 4, Men’s Novice 4 and Men’s Junior Varsity 8 boats all qualified for the finals, including first place finishes by the Women’s JV4 and Men’s Novice 4. 

In the finals, Saline's Women’s Junior Varsity 4 boat with Gavin Gallagher, Haley Pfeiffer, Alexis Wolfe, Sarah Buckeridge and coxswain Victoria Wellings followed up last week’s victory with a third place finish behind strong boats from Ann Arbor Huron and Forest Hills Northern. Captain Katie Stimac, in her first time racing a Women’s single, earned a third place finish, finishing behind boats from Roosevelt. 

After finishing a mere 4 seconds off the winning time last week, the always strong Men’s Lightweight 8 boat with Alex Mundorf, Ryan Wellings, Brad Roberts, Matt Fosdick, Jacob Hargrove, Jacob Carlson, Oliver Mepham, Ben Friman and coxswain Savannah Theisen took first place in the finals this week.  Saline’s Varsity 4 Girls finished just outside the medals this week with a fourth place in their finals race.

The finals continued in the afternoon, starting with the Men’s Double and the Saline entry (Nate Pool and captain Tommy Michaluk) finished third behind boats from Roosevelt and Crestwood. The men’s Novice 4 boat (Graham Fox, Oliver Mepham, Julian Rodriguez, Mile Torssell and coxswain Jade Hoang) then posted a strong second place finsh in the finals behind Forest Hills Eastern and ahead of third place Ann Arbor Huron. Saline’s last medal of the day came as the Men’s Junior Varsity 8 (Alex Mundorf, Ryan Wellings, Kyle Girvan, Jacob Hargrove, Brad Roberts, Graham Fox, Mike Torssell, Ben Friman and coxswain Sushrut Athavale) finished second in their finals race 5:23 seconds behind Grosse Ile and ahead of Ann Arbor Huron.

The crew team will be traveling to Cincinnati this weekend for the Midwest Scholastic Rowing Championships before closing season in Grand Rapids at the State Championships on May 19.

More information can be found at www.salinecrew.org.