Princeton National Rowing Association’s Mercer Rowing Club earned fifth place in overall points at the Independence Day Regatta on Philadelphia’s Schuylkill River July 4 weekend.
Forty-six clubs, including clubs from the United Kingdom, Peru, and Kuwait, competed in the mid-summer regatta which traces its roots to 1880. Mercer Junior and Master Crews competed in 20 events over the weekend; three Mercer boats achieved first place finishes.
Rising high school junior Cate Porter of Hopewell impressed the crowd with her first place finish in the Women’s Single event for rowers age 16 and under. Porter rowed the 2000-meter course and finished 23 seconds ahead of her nearest competitor.
The women’s junior 8 with coxswain finished first with a crew of rising high school senior Kelly Fischer (Hopewell) in stroke seat, rising senior Alex Natale (Basking Ridge), graduated senior Geena Fram (Lawrenceville), rising senior co-captain Hayley Bork (Robbinsville), rising sophomore Laila Shehab (Hopewell), rising senior Badia Shehab (Hopewell), rising junior Caitlin Cleary (Princeton), graduated senior Katie Sessa (Monroe Township), and coxswain rising senior Katarina Stough (Princeton).
Fram and Sessa are rowing with Mercer this summer before beginning their collegiate rowing careers at Brown University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, respectively.
The women’s junior 4 with coxswain finished first with a crew of rising senior Catherine Keve (Cranbury), Laila Shehab, Sessa, Rachel Mumau (Millstone Township) and coxswain Stough.
Mercer is set to compete later this summer at the Philadelphia Youth Regatta on July 26 and the Royal Canadian Henley Regatta in August.
More information is online at rowpnra.org.
Cate Porter (Hopewell) competes at the Independence Day Regatta in Philadelphia.,
