FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 12, 2015
West Windsor, NJ – The Princeton National Rowing Association’s Mercer Rowing Club won nine gold medals in Saint Catharines, Ontario at the 133rd Royal Canadian Henley Regatta, the premier summer event for amateur rowers in North America. The club’s performance topped last year’s five gold medals in junior events and was an appropriate send-off for Ted Sobolewski, PNRA/Mercer program manager and girl’s coach. Sobelewski will leave the club to assume the role of Associate Head Coach for Men’s Rowing at Northeastern University.
“We wanted to perform well because this was our last regatta with Coach Ted,” said co-captain Kate Hickey (Yardley, PA). The girls won Henley gold in seven of the nine events they entered.
“Coach Ted will be greatly missed by the entire program, but thanks to the environment of hard work he fostered, and the high expectations he instilled in us, PNRA/Mercer will continue to be a strong contender on the national level,” said co-captain Caitlin Cleary (Princeton, NJ).
“Coach Ted first brought us to Canadian Henley in 2013, and we didn’t win any events that year. He believed in us, and we improved a lot because of his coaching and training plans. Now we love this regatta because we get so many opportunities to race great competitors,” added Hickey. With heats, semi-finals and finals, some of the girls had fourteen races over the five days of the regatta.
The PNRA/Mercer boys won their first two Henley gold medals ever, enjoying success in the under age 17 (U17) eight plus coxswain event and U17 four plus coxswain event. Boys’ coach Justin Ochal commented, “I’m really proud of the U17 guys. They got a taste of winning and what hard competition is all about. The whole program performed exceptionally well, and we saw good racing all week.”
The gold medal winning PNRA/Mercer crews were:
U17 Men’s 8 with coxswain – Daniel Stoddard (West Windsor, NJ), Andrew Hickey (Yardley, PA), Erik Wicks (Holmdel, NJ), Philip Collins (Lawrenceville, NJ), Jack Gallagher (Newtown, PA), Andrew Moss (Princeton, NJ), Brian Karp (Princeton, NJ), Tyler Harris (Princeton Junction, NJ) and coxswain Katelyn Takacs (Lawrenceville, NJ).
U17 Men’s 4 with coxswain – Stoddard, A. Hickey, Gallagher, Collins, and coxswain Takacs
U23 Lightweight Women’s 8 with coxswain – Rena White (Princeton, NJ), K. Hickey, Kathryn Miller (Hamilton Township), Sheila Kennedy-Moore (Cranbury, NJ), Jenna Kugel (Skillman, NJ), Elise Gorberg (West Windsor, NJ), Anna Heckler (Colts Neck, NY), Eileen Hu (West Windsor, NJ), and Madeline Alden (Princeton, NJ)
U23 Women’s Lightweight Pair – K. Hickey, R. White
U19 Women’s 8 with coxswain – White, K. Hickey, , Katherine Lustig (Newtown, PA), Celia Varga (Princeton, NJ) Hayley Bork (Robbinsville, NJ), Kelly Fischer (Hopewell, NJ), Sabrina Marki (Bedminster, NJ), Rachel Mumau (Millstone Township), and coxswain Sydney Holgado (Robbinsville, NJ)
U19 Women’s 4 with coxswain – White, K. Hickey, Mumau, Bork, and coxswain Colleen Gillis (Freehold Township)
U19 Women’s Pair – K. Hickey, R. White
U17 Women’s 8 with coxswain – Sara Hansen (West Windsor, NJ), Varga, Lustig, Lauren Miller (Hamilton, NJ), Bridget Parker (Princeton, NJ), Mia Barkenbush (West Windsor, NJ), Gwyneth Lavery (Lawrenceville, NJ), Isabel Roemer (Princeton, NJ), and coxswain Caroline Galati (Princeton Junction, NJ)
U17 Women’s 4 with coxswain – Hansen, Varga, Lustig, K. Miller, and coxswain C. Galati
About the Princeton National Rowing Association
The Princeton National Rowing Association, a 501(c)3 organization, operates the Finn M.W. Caspersen Rowing Center located on the shores of Mercer Lake, Mercer County Park in West Windsor, New Jersey. The Princeton National Rowing Association is dedicated to operating a world-class training site for our nation’s elite athletes, providing opportunities for area youth to excel in the sport of rowing and to expand rowing in the area through community-based programs. PNRA runs the Mercer Junior Rowing Program which provides rowing opportunities for youth from over 30 area schools and the Mercer Masters Rowing Program which provides rowing opportunities for adults. The center is a home to the USRowing National and Olympic Teams, as well as rowing clubs and schools. PNRA received generous support from University Orthopaedic Associates, Resolute Racing Shells, Swift Racing, Hampton Inn and Residence Inn by Marriott.
For more information, contact Kristopher Grudt, tel: 609-977-1094, krisgrudt@rowpnra.org or visit www.rowpnra.org.