Sure, crew isn’t as popular as baseball or lacrosse, but with the United States Olympic crew team training in its own back yard at Mercer Lake in West Windsor, it is not surprising that many students from Plainsboro and West Windsor would want to participate in this world renowned, though oddly understated, sport.##M:[more]##
Of course it may take years for any team to rise to the caliber of even contending for a national championship and most never make it at all. That’s one reason why some may find it so surprising that the Mercer Junior Rowing Club’s had managed to win a national championship after only four years since its inception.
“I am not at all surprised by the success the team has had,” says Sean McCourt, the team’s head coach and program director. “We have things that other clubs can’t even dream about.” This includes some of the best rowing facilities in the country on Mercer Lake in West Windsor, access to national and Olympic team athletes and coaches, experienced coaches, and some of the hardest working young rowers in the country.
So on the weekend of June 11 and 12, in the US Rowing National Youth Invitational Championships on Harsha Lake in Amelia, Ohio, members of the Mercer Junior Rowing Club’s men’s lightweight crew won the US Rowing National Youth Invitational Championship, covering the 2,”000 meters in a time of 7:02.32 (eight seconds faster than the second place boat). In addition, the women’s lightweight eight also managed to bring home a silver medal.
The four man lightweight boat included Michael Perl (cox) and Rob Abraham (stoke) of High School South as well as Rick Zultner (two seat). The women’s lightweight eight silver medalists included four High School South students: Phoebe Getzow and Amanda Gettlefinger, in the seven and six seat, as well as Erin Conlon (four seat) and Erin Tormey (bow seat).
In rowing, athletes are identified by their position in the boat. The athlete sitting in the bow (the portion of the boat that crosses the finish line first) is the bow seat or number one seat. The next rower is number two, and so on. The rower closest to the stern (the portion of the boat that crosses the finish line last) is “the stroke.”
A sophomore at High School South, Perl has only been on the team for the past two years. “It looked like something I wanted to be a part of,” he says. “I just thought I would give it a try.” A resident of West Windsor, his father is a computer analyst and his mother is a stay-at-home mom. “I really enjoy being a part of the team,” says Perl. “It offers an intensely focused physical and mental process that I enjoy.”
As a coxswain Perl, a sophomore at High School South, directs the boat and the pace of rowing during the race. “I am the eyes and ears of the crew,” he says. “I kind of represent an intermediary between the rowers and the coach.” As may appear obvious even to the casual observer, crew offers a great low impact aerobic workout with rowers trying to achieve the fastest strokes per minute rather than miles per hour. Typically, the stroke rate at the start of a race is high, 38-45, then settles to a race cadence typically in the 30s. Crews finish the race with a sprint, taking the rate up once again. Crews may call for a “Power 10” during the race — a demand for the crew’s most intense 10 strokes.
There are currently 120 members of the Mercer Junior Rowing Club, approximately half of whom come from West Windsor-Plainsboro. “Most of our rowers start at the novice level, work on their skills for a year, and then jump to the varsity,” says McCourt.
While many rowers are a part of the team all year round, the focus of the team changes with each season. “In the fall the kids work on distance, about three miles, and in the winter we work on the rowing machines,” says McCourt. The spring season is comprised of the shorter 2,”000 meter races.
A major reason that the Mercer Junior rowers are so advanced, says McCourt, is that they train at Mercer Lake, where the race courses are fully equipped to host world-class regattas. Opened in 2000, the Mercer Lake rowing facilities were planned and constructed under strict standards. They include such world class accouterments as a seven-lane buoyed race course with warm up areas and a seven lane starting platform; a three-story finish line tower; 300 meters of finish line spectator areas; carefully consistent conditions across all seven lanes, and state-of-the-art timing and judging facilities.
A resident of Princeton, McCourt originally got into the sport of rowing while attending St. Joseph’s Prep high school in Philadelphia. “My high school was a huge national powerhouse in rowing,” he says. “I tried out for the baseball team and didn’t make. So I joined the rowing team. It had the same kind of prestige to it as being on the football team.”
McCourt attended Boston University where he stroked the varsity heavyweight eight for two years and tried out for the national team. He also was selected to attend the U.S. Pre-Elite Team camp in 1998, Lightweight Selection in 1999 and was runner up in the 2000 U.S. Senior Lightweight Pair Trials.
After graduating in 1999 with a degree in secondary education, McCourt began his coaching career at the McCallie School in Chattanooga, Tennessee, where his freshman crew went undefeated. He also coached for St Joseph’s Prep, where his crews achieved victories at the Head of the Charles, the Stotesbury Cup, Philadelphia Catholic League, and the City Championships.
For McCourt, the lessons of rowing go far behind merely rowing a boat. “Crew is the kind of sport that people tend to overlook,” he says. “It teaches you how to work hard, work with others, and persevere during tough times.”
McCourt feels that the valuable life lesson of the importance of working as a team is stronger in rowing that perhaps any other sport, according to McCourt. “Rowing is the sort of sport that you get what you put into it,” he says. “We get a lot of athletes, and we work them hard. But teamwork is number one. The athlete trying to stand out in a boat will only make the boat slower.”
Rowing can also help athletes in the college admission process, says McCourt. “A number of our athletes have been recruited by some big name universities as scholar athletes,” he says. This is particularly true for female athletes where there can be scholarships available for rowing at large state universities. Currently there are former Mercer Junior Rowing Club athletes attending such universities as Princeton, Cornell, Penn, Boston University, Yale, and Rutgers.
Membership fees in the Mercer Junior Rowing club are $550 for both the fall and spring season and $200 for the winter season. There are also additional equipment and travel expenses. But while many West Windsor and Plainsboro can pay these fees without blinking an eye, there are also many who can not afford it. “We will never deny a child access to rowing due to limited financial funds,” says McCourt.
For more information, visit the Mercer Junior Rowing website at wwww.MJRC.org.
American Legion Baseball
West Windsor-Plainsboro, (7-5). A win over Hopewell, 7-4, on June 5. Pitching: Dan Margiotti, 5 innings, 3 hits, 4 earned runs, 2 walks, 3 strikeouts. Hitting: Eric Voigtsberger, 2 hits, run scored, 3 RBI; Matt Marini, 2 hits, run scored, RBI.
A win over Princeton, 7-6, on June 7. Pitching: Joe Huttner, 5 innings, 5 hits, 4 earned runs, 2 walks, 2 strikeouts. Hitting: Voigtsberger, 3 hits, run scored; Matt Olson, 2 hits, run scored; Male, 3 hits, run scored, 2 RBI; Carluccio, 3 hits, run scored.
A loss to Ewing, 6-5, on June 9. Pitching: Casey Warner, 5 2/3 innings, 8 hits, 3 earned runs, 2 walks, strikeout. Hitting: Matt Olson, 2 hits, RBI; Jono Chirumbolo, hit, run scored, 3 RBI.
A loss to Broad Street, 4-0, on June 12. Pitching: Margiotti, 7 innings, 6 hits, 3 earned runs, walk, 4 strikeouts. Hitting: Elanjian, hit.
A loss to Bordentown, 8-5, on June 13. Pitching: Eric Voigtsberger, 3 1/3 innings, 5 hits, 2 earned runs, 3 walks. Hitting: Kevin Maselli, hit, run scored, 3 RBI.
A loss to Hightstown, 12-2, on June 14. Pitching: Joe Huttner, 3 innings, 7 hits, 3 runs, 3 walks, 3 strikeouts. Hitting: Sean Lodato, hit.
A win over Bordentown, 9-4, on June 15. Pitching: Chirumbolo, 4 2/3 innings, 5 hits, 4 runs, 4 earned runs, 6 walks, 2 strikeouts. hitting: Voigtsberger, 4 hits, run scored, RBI; Huttner, 3 hits, 2 runs scored; Carluccio, 3 hits, 2 runs scored, RBI.
A loss to North Trenton, 13-9, on June 16. Pitching: Warner, 3 1/3 innings, 13 hits, 12 runs, 1 walk. Hitting: Olson, 2 hits, run scored, 3 RBI; Huttner, 2 hits, 2 runs scored, 3 RBI.
A victory over Trenton, 6-4, on June 20. Pitching: Huttner, 7 innings, 7 hits, 4 runs, one earned run, 2 walks, 2 strikeouts. Hitting: Olson, 2 hits, run scored, RBI; Matt Marini, hit, run scored, 2 RBI; Voigtsberger, hit, 2 runs scored; Huttner, hit, run, RBI.
A win over Mitchell Davis, 6-1, on June 21. Pitching: Margiotti, 5 innings, 6 hits, earned run, 5 strikeouts, 3 walks. Hitting: Olson, 2 hits, run scored, RBI; Voigtsberger, 3 hits, run scored, 2 RBI.
People in Sports
Kattie Kellner, a resident of West Windsor, was the second overall female finisher at the Run for Dad 5K on June 18. She completed the course in a time of 21.01.
Victoria Vaynberg and Pearly Leung, both 2004 graduates of High School South, are on the Syracuse University women’s tennis team. Vaynberg posted a singles record of 24-9, and a doubles mark of 22-12. Leung finished with an 8-10 overall record, including 4-7 doubles mark.
Grover Middle School Co-ed Tennis Team finished with an undefeated, 10-0, season for the fourth consecutive year. Coached by Scott Berger, the team features Emma Levy, Demetri Vrahnos, Julian Richardson, Zach Halpern, Jeff Yang, Nikhil Lakhanpal, Kathiresan Palaniappan, Rishabh Tiwari, Anna Lee Scharfstein, Dan Joe, Ben Ro, Liz Liu, Piyush Poddar, and Lesley Norris.
Matt Burke, a 2004 graduate of High School South, and Mike Meirowitz a 2004 graduate of North, both played on the Lafayette College lacrosse team that finished with a 2-11 record. Burke scored one goal and had 18 ground balls this season. Meirowitz had seven assists.
Laura Trzasko, a 2003 graduate of High School South, scored nine goals and had one assist for the University of Connecticut women’s lacrosse team that finished with a 12-5 record.
