ST. CATHARINES, Ont. — Four crews from the West Side Rowing Club advanced onto the semifinal and final races following Tuesday's 127th Royal Canadian Henley Regatta. Six other West Side boats were eliminated in the preliminary heat competition on Martindale Pond.

The WSRC's Women's Junior B (under-17) eight secured the club's first spot in Thursday's

finals with a third place finish in 6:58.43. The rowers include: Olympia Gioulekus, Kayla Van

Cleave, Tessa Yurko, Kitty Mahoney, Taylor Gillespie, Jillaim Marshall, Ari Rabin and Emily

Glaskow (cox).

Placing first in 7:37.38 was the Junior Women's Four with cox including Danielle Carlino,

Amanda Truesdell, Kellie Solowski, Brittany Knaszak and Abigail Giancola (cox). They will

compete in today's semifinals.

Also advancing to this afternoon's semifinals is the Junior Women's Four with cox featuring

Elizabeth Rutowski, Elizabeth Murphy, Hannah Miller, Catherine Yeksigian and Madeline Bender

(cox). They took third place in 7:42:77.

The Junior Men's Four with cox took third place in 7:00:09. Erik Schiferle, Chase Crimmen,

Jamie Hamp, Alex Frank and Katherine Ciminelli (cox) will compete in today's semifinals.

The six WSRC boats eliminated were two Junior Men's Four, a Junior Women's Four, Senior

Women's Eight, Senior Lightweight Men's Four and a Women's Junior B Eight.

Since the Henley settled in St. Catharines in 1903, it has grown to become the largest of

its kind in North America. In 2008, over 2,800 men and women from over 150 rowing clubs

competed for Henley Gold.