In the first race of the day, the girls third and fourth varsity boats both defeated St. Ignatius, with the third varsity prevailing. For the second consecutive week, the rowers of the fourth varsity boat beat everyone except their teammates.

The fourth varsity boat was coxed by Carol Hertel (Piedmont High School) and rowed by Allison Hughes (stroke, Piedmont), Megan Mills (Bishop O'Dowd), Joan Zovickian (Piedmont), Joanna Andreoni (Piedmont), Laura Meyer (Bishop O'Dowd), Jennifer Reimann (Piedmont), Rachael Frank (Miramonte), and Madeleine Lettieri (Piedmont).

Both the girls varsity and junior varsity eights won their races convincingly. St. Ignatius finished second in each race, followed by River City. Ariel Frost (College Prep) coxed the varsity eight. Stroke Lauren Hofmayer (Miramonte) led oarsmen Joanna Jacob (Berkeley High), Emilee Johnson (CWCS), Taryn O'Connell (Carondelet), Ashley Jones (Skyline) and Piedmont High rowers Katie Sherman, Alana Kopke and Sarah Moore.

The Strokes' winning time was 6 minutes, 43.5 seconds.

Elissa Malmquist (Campolindo) stroked the junior varsity, joined by Lauren Kunze (Piedmont), Victoria Peckham (Piedmont), Tory Kaso (Holy Names), Hayley Fish (Monte Vista), Simone Price (Campolindo), Rebekah Kharrazi (Alameda Community Learning), and Zoey Balance (College Prep). Emily Gibson (Head-Royce) was the coxswain.

Coach Derek Byrnes said the weekend's racing showed that the girls were learning to measure themselves against their own standards and not their opponents'. In coach Byrnes' opinion, this means that three weeks into the season, they are heading in the right direction.

Boys Varsity Shines
In a close race, the Oakland Strokes boys varsity eight edged out St. Ignatius and River City Rowing Club with its fastest time of the League racing season.

Although down by 11/2 seats for the first 750 meters of the 2,000 meter race, the Strokes powered through the middle meters to gain a three-seat lead that they held for the last 500 meters. Oakland finished in 6:11.4, followed by St. Ignatius at 6:14.0 and River City at 6:55.0. The Oakland Strokes boat was coxed by Alysha Kooji (Miramonte) and rowed by Johnny Viel (Piedmont), Anthony Fahden (Acalanes), Roman Rezanowicz (St. Joseph Notre Dame), Matt King (Piedmont), Pete Collister (Albany), Josh Sowick (Piedmont), Dan O'Connell (De La Salle) and Chris Arth (Alameda).

Not so fortunate were the Oakland Strokes boys junior varsity eight, which fell to St. Ignatius. Oakland struggled to find its rhythm throughout the race and finished second in 6:40.9 to St. Ignatius (6:26.2). River City finished third in 7:09.7. The junior varsity boat was coxed by Zach Vlahos (Piedmont), and rowed by Rudy Gustafson (Berkeley), Andrew Ratcliffe (Piedmont), Tom Caruthers (Bishop O'Dowd), David Houska (Head-Royce), Ross Goodwin (Miramonte), Scott Davidson (Golden Gate Apple), Alex Baker-Lubin (St. Mary's) and Dennis Lam (Piedmont). In the third boys race of the day, the Oakland Strokes third varsity eight finished second in 6:57.1, beaten by St. Ignatius in 6:35.3 and followed by the St. Ignatius fourth varsity in 6:42.0.

Boys Novices Win Again
The boys novice "A" boat, which raced at 8:45 a.m., posted its third victory in as many races this season with a time of 6:42 with River City finishing 17 seconds later. The Strokes' boat was coxed by Drew Joseph (Piedmont) and stroked by Harald Vaernes (Bishop O'Dowd). Raphael Peterson (Piedmont), Cole Masse (El Cerrito), Sam Fishman (Piedmont), Mac Farrell and David Hofmayer (both of Miramonte), Shane Thygeson (Piedmont) and Mark Gallegos (San Ramon Valley) completed the lineup from stern through bow seat.

The boys novice "B" and "C" boats were in the water at 10:15, coming in first and second, respectively, against the other two teams. The "B" boat posted a respectable 7:02 and the "C" boat crossed the finish line 23 seconds later, topping River City by 26 seconds.

The "B" boat was coxed by Sarah Heetderks and stroked by Sheldon Silvera (both from Miramonte). In seats seven through bow were Chris Kohne (Piedmont), Mike Brenner (Acalanes), Ben Rockwell (Campolindo), Andre Opsital-Cone (Campolindo), Chris Welter (Piedmont), Brett Yount (Alameda) and Nuri Han (Piedmont).

The "C" boat was coxed by Caroline Benson and stroked by Geoff Wietelmann (both of Piedmont). In seats seven through bow were Max Goldsmith (Arrowsmith Academy), Nico Wrenn (Piedmont), Billy Hughes (Miramonte), Jack Seabolt (Piedmont), Jeff Biestman (Monte Vista), Peter Laberton (Piedmont) and Peter Matarrese (Alameda).

Boys novice coach Alex Thomas said that all three of his boats did very well and are where they should be at this point in the season. Assistant Raj Batra is happy with the team spirit and sense of purpose displayed by these rowers.

Novice Girls
The "A" series girls novice level was captured by the Oakland Strokes with a time of 6:11.4. The "A" boat, coxed by Shira Kharrazi, of the Alameda Community Learning Center, was crewed by rowers, from stroke to bow, Genny Johnson (Bishop O'Dowd), Sarah Schiller (Piedmont), Mary Ellen King (Miramonte), Emily Lewis (St. Joseph Notre Dame), Kate Hruska (Albany), Heather Lynch (St. Joseph Notre Dame) and Jessie Toda (Campolindo).

The "B" series race saw the closest competition of the day, with the Oakland Strokes boats taking first and second place.

The "B" boat crossed the finish at 7:48.9. It was coxed by Alaizah Koorji, of Miramonte, and was rowed, from stroke to bow, by Anne Rutherford (Bentley), Becca Kuensting (Bishop O'Dowd), Claire Compton (Bentley), Lara Keihner (Acalanes), Bronwyn McGinley-Bradley (San Francisco Waldorf), Makenna Ralston (Piedmont), Sabrina Thompson (Bishop O'Dowd), and Lila Miller (Piedmont).

The "B" series "A" boat, with a finishing time of 7:50.2, was coxed by Francesca Chang (Campolindo) with, from stroke to bow, Claire Swanback (Campolindo), Katie Leach (Miramonte), Kaitlin Davis (Miramonte), Danielle Piccinini (Carondelet), Franny Brogan (Piedmont), Dakota Coleman (St. Joseph Notre Dame), Hayley Andrews (Miramonte) and Stephanie Bohar (Piedmont). The "D" series boat, with a winning time of 7:59.1, was coxed by Katherine Anderson (Piedmont) and rowed by Bianca Molfino (Holy Names), Grainne Hebeler (East Bay Waldorf), Becca Girtler (Miramonte), Maggie Hennessey (Piedmont), Allison Pretlow (Miramonte), Rose Shipro (Millennium), Meaghan Haley and Jeana Alayaay (both Acalanes).

The freshman girls entries provided an exciting race with the Strokes "A" boat pulling into the lead for a fast finish of 7:54.4. The freshman girls "B" boat had a finishing time of 8:15.0.

Looking Ahead
Following a bye weekend, the varsity and junior varsity boats will travel the first weekend in April to the San Diego Crew Classic. They will compete against some of the best junior crews on the Pacific Coast, including some from British Columbia.

The junior varsity boat will hope to repeat last year's win, and the varsity, which has finished second two years in a row, will hope to break through with a win.

The novice crews, meanwhile, look ahead to their third league race at Lake Natomas in Folsom on April 17.

Contra Costa Times
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