Two Avon High crew teams win medals at New England regatta

Avon High’s boys varsity 8 crew team at the 50th Head of the Charles Regatta in Boston.

AVON, Jan. 21, 2015 – The Avon High crew team had a good fall as the Falcons continued to grow and succeed on the water. 

At the fifth annual New England high school and junior high championship regatta on Lake Quinsigamond in Worcester in October, Avon’s novice girls boat finished second out of 20 boats with a time of 13:55.95. Only Community Rowing out of Boston was faster in 13:25.20. 

The novice girls team included coxswain Phoebe Finch and rowers Emily Boswell, Meghan Boswell, Sarah Osiecki, Elena Arias-Camison, Olivia Lazarus, Amanda Branch, Jennifer Wall and Kayla Bucci. 

The girls varsity 4 boat was third out of nine teams at the New England regatta. Avon posted a time of 17:48.39. Newton County Day won the race in 17:24.05 with Duxbury Bay Maritime second in 17:42.25. 

The Avon team comprised of coxswain Tali Filstein and rowers Marinna Binkowski, Grace Baldauf, Eva Gaston and Julia Canova. Binkowski, Gaston and Canova are the team’s three senior co-captains. 

The two teams did well at the Riverfront Regatta on the Connecticut River in Hartford, each finishing fifth in their respective races. 

The varsity 4 four boat was the top public high school team among 27 teams in its race and finished the race in 17:06.61, just 0.16 of a second behind Canterbury. The eight-girl novice team was fifth out of 24 teams and was the top high school team in its race. 

The Avon boys crew team featured the largest group of rowers this fall in the program’s history with nearly 40 returning rowers and 20 first-year athletes. The boys fielded six boats, including a novice A boat that defeated crews from Glastonbury, Farmington and Shrewsbury, Mass., in their first outing. 

Seniors Jack Kostal, Kian Rossitto, Alec Whipple and Frank Campanelli joined the first varsity 8 boat along with sophomores Anthony Campanelli, Matt Bagley, Matt Tyler and Will Kostal. The highlight of the season was competing in the 50th annual Head of the Charles Regatta in Boston, the world’s largest regatta. 

With the help of senior coxswain Megan Boos, the Avon boys were the top scholastic crew from Connecticut and among the top 10 public school crews in their varsity 8 race. Kostal, Whipple and Rossitto are the tri-captains of the boys team, which finished 65th out of 85 teams with a time of 17:46.51 in the youth 8 race.