SHELTON, Conn. – On Saturday, the men's and women's rowing teams took part in the Sacred Heart Invitational hosted by Sacred Heart University on the Housatonic River in southwestern Connecticut.
The Privateers had four entries at the collegiate meet on the men's side and had two women's entries at the Invitational.
Earning victories for the men's squad was the men's varsity pair as well as the men's novice four at the event. The men's varsity four finished second as did the men's novice eight. The women's novice four took third place in their race, while the women's varsity four rounded out the weekend for the Privateers with a fourth place finish.
The men's varsity pair featured the senior duo of
Liam Gagliano (Oyster Bay, N.Y./Oyster Bay) and
Corey Toscano (Union Vale, N.Y./Our Lady Of Lourdes) matching up with the men's pairing from Merchant Marine. The Privateer pair recorded a time of 8:29.53, beating out the Mariner duo by 24 seconds in the two-team head-to-head matchup.
The novice quartet of sophomore
Kent Napoliello (Bay Head, N.J./Point Pleasant Beach), and freshmen
John Woods (Worcester, Mass./St. John's),
Zach Woolley (Poughkeepsie, N.Y./Poughkeepsie), and
Adam Durrua (Point Pleasant, N.J./Point Pleasant Beach) coasted to a 21-second win with a time of 8:50.1. The group edged out both Iona and Merchant Marine, as senior
Rachel DeFroda (Wilmington, Del./Delaware Military Academy) served as the coxswain.
The novice eight took second place as Napoliello, Woods, Woolley, Durrua and DeFroda were joined by
Curtis Bates (Honesdale, Pa./Damascus Christian),
James Louer Jr. (Clifton, N.J./Clifton),
Scott Smith (Point Pleasant, N.J./Point Pleasant Beach) and Michael Chang in their race. The Privateers finished with a time of 8:02.74, while Iona won the race with a time of 7:37. 05. Merchant Marine finished over a minute after Maritime with a 9:09.74.
Rounding out the men's entries was the varsity four as Toscano and Gagliano were joined by Woods, Woolley and DeFroda and were narrowly beat out for the victory. Merchant Marine took the race with a time of 8:10.8, while Maritime was less than four seconds off the pace with an 8:14.6. Iona's pair of entries finished third and fourth respectively.
The women's novice four returned to action and finished third behind Manhattan and Merchant Marine with a time of 10:52.82. Sophomores
TinaMarie Haskell (Chestnut Ridge, N.Y./Clarkstown North) and
Katia Aaron (Clarence, N.Y./Clarence), along with freshmen
Gabriella Franco (East Setauket, N.Y./St. Anthony's) and newcomer
Kayla Kelly (South Setauket, N.Y./Ward Melville) were aboard for the Privateers along with sophomore
Christopher Chilelli (Bordentown N.J./Bordentown Regional) on as coxswain.
Finally the women's varsity four took fourth place of five on Saturday, as Maritime finished behind Sacred Heart's top entry, Manhattan and Iona, and finished ahead of the second Sacred Heart entry. Junior
Alexandra Schnabel (Lindenhurst, N.Y./St. Anthony's), sophomore
Anneliese Selheim (Castle Rock, Colo./East Meadow (N.Y.)), Haskell, Franco, and Chilelli finished with a time of 10:14.1, which was 13 seconds better than Sacred Heart.
Maritime will prepare for the Metropolitan Championships, taking place at City Island, New York hosted by the Iona College Gaels. The one-day event will take place on Saturday, April 29.
