NEW PRESTON – The Avon High crew program continues to grow. The Falcons won more medals at this year’s Connecticut Public School Rowing Association championships at Lake Waramaug than they have ever won in a single season. Four boats won medals including the Boys Novice 8, which finished first.
Avon’s girls varsity four finished second while the girls novice 8 and girls second varsity four were each third. The Avon boys varsity four did make the finals but finished fourth, one second away from bringing home a medal.
Each of the boats had to qualify to race in the final.
The boys novice 8 (Matt Bagley, Matt Tyler, Jared Culbertson, Will Kostal, Anthony Campanelli, Danyal Qureshi, Ben Coleman, Stephen Pang, coxswain Spencer Sonnenberg) won their race in 5:34.9, beating runner-up Farmington by nearly four seconds.
It was the fourth time that the two teams had raced on the water this spring and the first win for Avon. They are the first Avon boys team to win a medal at the state regatta.
Watch the a video of the race from a Go Pro camera worn by coxswain Spencer Sonneberg with Farmington in the left side of the video.
The girls varsity 4 boat (Marinna Binkowski, Sierra Mazur, Maya Regalado, Anna McCormick, coxswain Jess Wert) finished second behind Lyme-Old Lyme, about 14 seconds off the pace. Avon was six seconds ahead of E.O. Smith. The remainder of the field was about 25 seconds back.
The girls novice 8 team (Grace Baldauf, Lauren Jeandell, Marissa Canova, Effie Lombard, Katie Horovitz, Mackenzie Fischer, Annie Hayes, Lexi Pastizzo, coxswain Tali Filstein) was third about a second behind second place Simsbury. Glastonbury won the race and was about six seconds ahead.
Avon’s girls second varsity 4 boat (Julia Canova, Eva Gaston, Tess Murphy, Rya MacDonald-Soccorso, coxswain: Jordyn Saxe) also took third behind Guilford and E.O. Smith.
Avon’s boys varsity 4 (Jon Arciero, Alec Whipple, Frank Campanelli, Jack Kostal; coxswain Megan Boos) made it to the finals and finished 4th and missing a medal by less than a second. Litchfield finished third.
Avon’s boys varsity 8 didn’t make the finals at the Connecticut Public School Rowing Association but they had a big win over Farmington and Lewis Mills in April. It was the first time that Avon’s boys varsity 8 had ever beaten a varsity 8 from Farmington.
Glastonbury outlasted Simsbury, 117-113 to win the Emerson Cup trophy. The Fred Emerson Cup is awarded each year to the team with the highest number of points from the regatta in the 8-person events. Farmington was third with 58 points, followed by Stonington (45), East Lyme (15¾) and Avon (14¾).
Lyme-Old Lyme captured the Perry Trophy with 100 points. The W. Hart Perry, Jr. trophy is awarded to the team with the highest number of points earned in the regatta in the 4-person events. E.O. Smith and Litchfield tied for second with 38 points followed by Avon in fourth place with 35 points.
Gerry deSimas, Jr., is the editor and founder of The Collinsville Press. He is an award-winning writer and has been covering sports in Connecticut and New England for more than 40 years. He was inducted into the New England High School Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2018.


Boys Basketball
High-scoring Warriors score 89 points in rout of Lyman Memorial

You must be logged in to post a comment Login