Caitlin Cecere Reps Team USA, Captures Silver: Another Big Win For Montclair HS Rowing

MONTCLAIR, NJ — The following news release comes courtesy of Montclair High School Rowing. Find out how to post announcements or events to your local Patch site.

Montclair High School Rowing is proud to announce that rising junior Caitlin Cecere was selected to represent Team USA and won silver at the 2025 World Rowing U19 Championships in Trakai, Lithuania.

Following a standout performance at the highly competitive USRowing Selection Camp in Chula Vista, California, 15-year-old Cecere earned her place as the youngest athlete on the U.S. Women’s National Team. Racing in the Women’s 8+ at the World Championships on August 7, she helped Team USA secure a silver medal in the finals on Sunday – beating out crews from Romania, Italy, Germany and Australia and cementing their place as the 2nd fastest crew in the world.

USRowing’s Selection Camp and Selection Development Camp form a tiered pathway to the U.S. National Team. Selection Camp is the highest level of junior training and the most competitive step in the U.S. Rowing pipeline. Only the nation’s top athletes are invited through a highly selective application process to train and compete for a coveted spot on Team USA at the World Rowing Championships. Selection Development Camp serves as the next-tier feeder and invitation program, designed to identify and develop promising athletes for future Selection Camp consideration and international competition.

Montclair Rowing has a proud and proven tradition of producing national team athletes, with 16 Mounties selected to Team USA and five world medals to date. This includes nine U19 World Championship appearances that have yielded two world medals, and seven U23 World Championship appearances resulting in three world medals.

Montclair remains well represented in the USRowing national pipeline, with Cecere competing at the U19 Worlds and alumnus Louis Gagnon—a current sophomore at Cal Berkeley—stroking the U.S. Men’s Eight to a fifth-place finish at the U23 World Championships in Poland last week in one of the fastest men’s fields in U23 history.

That pipeline of US Rowing talent extends to the program’s next generation, with Montclair High School juniors Ben Clark and Brooks Bateman earning invitations to USRowing’s Selection Development Camp and representing Team USA at the inaugural 2025 International Rowing Challenge this summer. Bateman steered the US Mixed 8th to Gold beating out elite junior crews from New Zealand, Canada, and Mexico.

These achievements underscore Montclair’s enduring ability to develop athletes who compete—and succeed—on the world stage.

Montclair High School Rowing alumni also continue to make waves internationally. Three former Mounties, including Kenneth Coplan, Alex Abuhoff and Amelia Cataldi, took home championship titles at the prestigious Henley Royal Regatta in the UK - one of the most historic and competitive rowing events in the world. Coplan also won The Boat Race for Cambridge versus Oxford back in 2023.

Cecere’s selection to Team USA and these international program achievements cap off a record-breaking 2025 season for Montclair High School Rowing.

She and teammate Madeleine Young won gold in the Girls Youth Pair at the USRowing Youth National Championships in Sarasota, Florida, Montclair’s first-ever national title in that event. And the team claimed national championship titles at the Stotesbury Cup, NJ State Championships, Cooper Cup, Philadelphia City Championships, and Mid-Atlantic Regionals, earning medals across nearly every boat class and solidifying Montclair’s reputation as one of the US’s top scholastic rowing programs.

“Having Caitlin represent Team USA at Worlds, securing Gold at Youth Nationals and having our alumni win at Henley - all in the same year - is an incredible testament to the strength of our program,” said Head Coach Jeremy Michalitsianos. “This is what’s possible when you bring together exceptional student-athletes, relentless work ethic, and a strong team culture, backed by supportive families, school, and community.”

Celebrating its 23rd season, Montclair Rowing has defied expectations for a small public-school program, consistently outperforming elite private and club teams throughout the state and nation. Led by former Great Britain national team rowers, Jeremy Michalitsianos and Lorna Rundle, the program has developed a legacy of producing student-athletes who excel both academically and athletically. Recent graduates have gone on to attend and be recruited to elite DI rowing universities including Harvard, Princeton, MIT, Yale, Cal Berkeley, Brown, Dartmouth, Duke, Northeastern, Washington and the U.S. Naval Academy. This year alone, the team sent recruits to prestigious programs including Brown, Columbia, Tufts, Boston, Smith, UC San Diego, and Ithaca.

Montclair High School Rowing is now recruiting for its fall high school program and accepting registrations for its Summer Learn-to-Row Camp, a fun and competitive pathway into the varsity program for Montclair public school students entering grades 6–9. No prior experience is required.

Cecere’s silver with Team USA, alongside alumni successes at Henley and U23 Worlds, underscores Montclair Rowing’s position as a program not only of national distinction, but global impact.

To learn more and be part of our championship program, contact Coach Lorna Rundle at lornarundle@hotmail.com

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