ROWING
West Side’s quest for gold medals comes up empty
Lightweight eight loses a close one
ST. CATHARINES, Ont. — For one last time, the West Side Rowing Club loaded its boats onto the trailer to truck home. They’ve commuted to the 127th Royal Canadian Henley Regatta all week, returning each morning with hopes of hoisting a prestigious Henley gold.
But at Sunday’s finale, West Side remained gold-less. The mood wasn’t somber, rather empty. This year’s Henley only reaffirmed that powerhouses like St. Catharines and the Boston Rowing Club are a cut above, replenishing talent like a well-oiled farm system.
As WSRC coach Aileen McNamara watched her junior eight women shoulder press boats onto the trailer, she praised their relentlessness. Other clubs simply have more of, well, everything.
“More kids, more resources, more coaches, more time,” she said. “I think we will continue to get better. We just need some new faces to take us to a new level.”
West Side’s four cracks at gold all came up short. The men’s senior lightweight eight, men’s under-23 four, junior men’s eight and junior women’s eight each competed Sunday. But only after a nasty thunderstorm derailed the regatta for two hours. At the storm’s peak, a nearby tent cart-wheeled into the air and a cable holding up lane-markers across the water snapped.
Once the lightning dissipated, West Side had its best swing at gold in the lightweight eight with a crew of Raymond DeVirgill, Matt Rung, Justin Farrington, James Thompson, William Brumsted, Zachary Stimart, Brian Nickel, Liam Moffett and coxswain Mike Szymoniak.
The race quickly stretched into a three-crew race with West Side, Riverside and St. Catharines staggered together by less than a boat’s length throughout. With one final punch of adrenaline, St. Catharines won at 5:35.36, Riverside crossed at 5:37.53 and West Side followed at 5:39.29. St. Catharines also finished 22 seconds ahead of West Side in the under-23 men’s four.
Like McNamara, senior men’s head coach Chris Pucella wasn’t drowning in sorrow afterward. This was somewhat expected. St. Catharines generates — and retains — rowing talent. West Side, though strong at the junior level, has trouble keeping kids once they get to college. Rowers tend to latch onto programs near their college instead.
Case in point, Riverside’s Nathanael Kielt. Two years ago, Kielt was a born-and-bred West Sider. He graduated from St. Joe’s, went to Rutgers and decided it was easier to join the Riverside Club in Cambridge, Mass. Three weeks ago, Kielt teased. He visited Buffalo, seemingly ready for a triumphant West Side return.
“And he ended up going back to Riverside,” said Szymoniak, the coxswain of West Side’s lightweight eight.
Szymoniak assured West Side “absolutely” gave Kielt a wholesome ribbing before their race.
The key to reversing this trend could be the U. S. Rowing Development Camp. Held for the first time in Buffalo this year, the camp could help West Side reel in the big bass throughout the country.
“The goal is to continue to bring guys back who have gone off to college from Buffalo and have them bring some friends,” Pucella said.
The strength of West Side’s junior program is clear. Both the men’s and women’s junior eights each were missing their best rowers yet still cracked Sunday’s finals. The women took fifth and the men sixth. Four of West Side’s junior men represented the United States in France at last week’s World Championships and the women lost multiple rowers to illness.
Maybe West Side can’t compare to heavyweights like St. Catharines quite yet. But if this rich group of junior rowers stick around Buffalo for the long haul, that could change. And golds could follow.
“I hope so,” said Szymoniak, who also helps coach the junior eight. “We’re only losing two guys in juniors so there’s a core group of guys returning. This is definitely a good step forward.”
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