The Section II Rowing Championships don’t work the same way other Sectional events work.
While the two-day event does determine the top teams in the region, it does not serve as a qualifier for the state championships. That’s because the state rowing championships is an open invitational.
The reason why we go through the motions (of holding Sectionals) is 60 percent bragging rights and 40 percent to prepare for tougher competitions (like states), said Niskayuna crew coach Matt Hopkins.
Boats representing 12 Section II schools, a private school, the Albany Rowing Center and Mohawk Homeschool competed at last weekend’s Section II championships on the Mohawk River between Niskayuna and Rexford. Medals were handed out to the top three place finishers in 28 events.
`Sectionals mean a lot because Section II is so strong,` said Hopkins, whose Niskayuna team racked up 12 medals including three first-place finishes.
Most of the varsity races followed trends established over the last several years. Saratoga dominated the girls races, while Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake took first place in several boys events.
`Saratoga on the girls’ side is very strong. They’ve won the last five state team titles,` said Hopkins. `And Burnt Hills on the boys’ side is very strong.
They’ve medaled at states the last few years.`
Niskayuna was strong in the novice/freshman boys division. The novice 8-plus-coxswain boat of Nate Hoffman, Alex Koste, Theodore Dalakos, Andy Patt, William Koch, Alex Dwyer, Luke Olson, Kyle Matuszyk and Todd Whitmarsh won its Saturday race in a time of 5:52.54. Nate Wiegman, Nick Wolfe, Lucas LoRe and Eric Powzyk took first place in Friday’s novice/freshman 4x race with a time of 6:10.06, and the duo of Eli Feenan and Zack Wistort won the novice/freshman 2x title in a time of 6:30.16.
The top varsity finish for Niskayuna was a second-place performance in the top division of the women’s 8-plus-coxswain event. The team of Ariel Nathan, Sarah Grifferty, Barbara Prescott, Haley Sive, Amanda Barmash, Lesley Cutting, Sara Corderman, Elizabeth DeBlock and Jenna Lohre finished with a time of 6:05.69, 21 seconds behind first-place Saratoga.
`Because we have the Burnt Hills boys and the Saratoga girls (teams), we have a great measuring stick,` said Hopkins. `If you’re close to either of them or beating them, you’re doing great.`
Grifferty, Prescott, DeBlock and Sive also finished second in Friday’s women’s 4x varsity race with a time of 6:26.14, less than four seconds behind the Mohawk Homeschool boat of Debbie Brzozowski, Emily Eliott, Kristien VanStaveren and Rachael Jones. Andrew Young and Sam Fisher teamed up for a second-place finish in the men’s varsity double second division race with a time of 6:35.98.
Megan Sweeney provided the top individual performance for Niskayuna with a second-place finish in the women’s varsity single race. Sweeney finished with a time of 8:04.01, 27 seconds behind Shenendehowa’s Jaclyn Postulka.
Besides its victory in the women’s varsity 4x race, Mohawk Homeschool earned four medals including Rachel Davis’ first-place finish in the novice/freshman single with a time of 8:28.04.
Matt Jones, David Brzozowski, Sam Bestvater and Nic Stoker placed second to Niskayuna in the men’s novice/freshman 4x race with a time of 6:11.00, and the boat of Neil Curwin, Issac Robison, Aaron Rhodes and Ryan Hughes placed second in the men’s varsity 4x event with a time of 5:48.13.
Many of these same teams will be in Saratoga Springs this weekend for the state championships on Fish Creek. The two-day event begins Saturday morning and concludes Sunday.“