Montclair HS Rowing Team Hits New Heights In Spring 2024

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

The Montclair High School Rowing Team has once again hit the water strong, setting new program records for the spring 2024 season.

On Saturday, April 27, Montclair clinched back-to-back State New Jersey State Championship titles at the Garden State Scholastic Rowing Championship in Camden, the largest scholastic athletic event in the state. They dominated all categories, winning BOTH the Men’s and Women’s points trophies again for 2024 – an extraordinary accomplishment and one that the men’s and women’s team have held consecutively since 2017 (short of one women’s loss in 2022 coming out of Covid).

The New Jersey State Championship took place on the Cooper River, in Camden, New Jersey with 46 New Jersey high schools competing and over 275 boats racing for their chance to secure the coveted NJ State Championship title in their respective category. In Montclair rowing tradition, they were a clear standout with all of their 13 boats reaching the finals and 11 walking away with medals, including 7 more state championship golds, 1 silver, and 3 bronze finishes – sweeping Gold in the Men’s and Women’s Varsity 8 and Men’s and Women’s Freshman 8 categories! This is 63 State Championship titles in Montclair’s program arsenal and puts them in strong position for Nationals on May 11, 2024. (A comprehensive list of wins, categories and athletes can be found below).

“To race states and clinch consecutive NJ state championship titles and men’s and women’s points trophies is a huge achievement for our program and Montclair High School,” said Head Coach Jeremy Michalitsianos. “Our athletes have trained hard, and we are so proud of everyone who competed today. But our job’s not done. Now we set our sights on Philadelphia Cities, Mid Atlantics, Stotesbury and SRAA Nationals.”

The Montclair High School Rowing Team has a long legacy of winning national and international championships – a huge feat for a public high school rowing team which competes in a landscape of prestigious, privately funded prep schools and clubs. The program, which just celebrated its 21st-year anniversary, is rich in diversity, talent, and spirit and comprised of high achieving student athletes who are consistently recruited and accepted into the most prestigious rowing programs and universities in the country. This year alone, the team has athletes who have been recruited to Cal Berkeley, University of Washington, George Washington and Rutgers to continue their rowing journey.

Under the guidance and training of internationally experienced coaching duo, Jeremy Michalitsianos and Lorna Rundle, Montclair Rowing has won countless Championships and is considered one of the most respected scholastic rowing programs in the country. In the 2022-23 season alone, they were Stotesbury Champions, SRAA Champions, Mid-Atlantic Champions and Philadelphia City Champions and are well positioned to exceed this winning legacy in 2024.

Given their recent success at New Jersey States, Montclair isn’t showing signs of slowing down and is well positioned as they look to the Philadelphia City Championships, Mid-Atlantic Junior Regional Championships, Scholastic Rowing Association of America’s (SRAA) National Championships, the Stotesbury Cup, and US Rowing’s Youth National Championship in Sarasota, Florida before they close their season in June.

To follow their schedule, learn more or sign up for any of their rowing programs, visit www.friendsofmontclairrowing.com.

Registration is also now open for Montclair Rowing’s Summer Camp program, open to all Montclair Public School students interested in learning more about the sport. For questions, reach out to Coach Lorna Rundle at lornarundle@hotmail.com.

Montclair High School Results:

• Women’s 1V8+ - 1st place
• Men’s 1V8+ - 1st place
• Women’s 2V8+ - 1st place
• Men’s 2V8+ - 1st place
• Women's F8+ - 1st place
• Men's F8+ - 1st place
• Women's V2x - 1st place
• Women’s LW4+ - 2nd place
• Men's N8+ - 3rd place
• Women’s JV4x – 3rd place
• Women’s JV2x - 3rd place
• Men’s JV4+ - 4th place
• Men’s N2X - 4th place

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