Blue Devil Crew Finishes on High Note
The Huntington High School girls’ and boys’ crew teams have been recognized by the New York State Scholastic Rowing Association with scholar athlete awards. The announcement doesn’t come as a surprise since the Blue Devil crew program has traditionally kept high academic standards.
The scholar-athletes had individual grade point averages of 90 or better and the team GPA was also in the 90’s. This year, 18 Huntington students earned scholar athlete status.
The honorees include Erin Brown, John Coffey, Brian Connell, Tatiana DiPaola, Haley Garofalo, Katie Getz, Maya Horton, Ben Jensen, Ben Kitzen, Shayne Larkin, Connor Leek, David Lillienstein, Shannon McSweeney, Michael O’Connor, Ryan Pavelka, Mia Rienzo, Alanna Tieman, and Joey West.
Huntington crew closed out another strong season at the NYS Scholastic Championship Regatta in Saratoga Spring where the Blue Devils competed in a field of 494 skilled rowers. Girls’ senior double rowers Shannon McSweeney and Tatiana DiPaola captured third place, earning bronze medals.
Huntington’s Junior 4A (Liam Dreusike, Steven Correll, Ben Jensen, Ryan Pavelka and coxswain David Lillienstein) and 4B (Joey West, Tom Smith, Mike O’Connor, Ben Kitzen and coxswain Alex Sagredo) boats advanced to the semi-finals and the Girls’ Junior 4 (Shayne Larkin, Mia Rienzo, Katie Getz and Alanna Tieman, with coxswain Jason Leek) made it to the finals.
“The crew team continued to build this year as most of the team entered their sophomore year and competed against juniors,” head coach Marc Jensen said. “The rowers remained competitive and learned that to win they would need to put more time into strength training year round.”
The Huntington crew program has gained a solid reputation as one of the best in the nation even as a greater number of teams appear on the scene. “The sport of rowing is growing each year with more schools participating in events, making the acceptance of entries less certain and limited accept entries to only one boat in each category,” Jensen said. “Each rower or coxswain can only compete in one event at any given regatta. This limits any one rower’s chance to advance, but gives more kids an opportunity to compete.”
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