The girls varsity-eight race went as expected, with Holy Spirit battling rival Mainland Regional to the end. The Spartans had a slight edge and beat Mainland by half a boatlength.

"It's a friendly rivalry, and really good competition," Holy Spirit's Kelly Bainbridge said.

Holy Spirit also won the girls team points award and helped the Spartans win the overall school title, which combines a school's points in all boys and girls races. St. Augustine, with four wins and three second places in the 26-division regatta, won the boys crown.

The Holy Spirit boys varsity eight finished the 1,500-meter race in 4 minutes, 50.87 seconds, beating St. Augustine by more than five seconds. Third was Mainland in 5:01.55. The Spartans' crew was stroke Tom Muskett, Jim Senese, Drake, Ian Kosten, Matt Given, Brian Reehill, Tim Welsh, bow Jim Smith and coxswain Seamus Labrum.

Bergman, who started the Holy Spirit crew program in 1965 and left the Spartans in 1984, is nationally known in the crew world after having spent 20 years coaching the University of Pennsylvania, but he keeps things in perspective.

"Hopefully we're getting better every day, and today was a good sign," Bergman said. "There were a lot of good crews out there. We're just happy with the day. They're working hard, and today was a good day for us."

The Holy Spirit girls varsity eight had to pull Kristina Wolf out of the lightweight eight to fill in for Stephanie Laielli, who injured her back Wednesday. The Spartans won in 5:25.83, and Mainland was second in 5:28.56. Atlantic City finished third in 5:35.43.

The Holy Spirit crew was stroke Shelby Favre, Paige Funk, Julia Jackson, Meghan Birkbeck, Amanda Kane, Kelly McHale, Wolf, bow Bainbridge, and coxswain Myra McCann.

"Kristina Wolf is a strong kid with a good erg score (on rowing machines), and she's very intense," Holy Spirit girls coach Joe Welsh said. "She's not as tall (as the others in the varsity eight). After Stephanie's injury I went to our lightweight coach, Mike Manning, and he said to take Kristina. She did a good job. We're hoping to have Stephanie back on Monday."

The Press area's two unbeaten boats, the Holy Spirit girls double crew of stroke Katie Sutton and bow Kendal Sweeney, and the Egg Harbor Township girls lightweight four, had no trouble winning. The EHT crew was stroke Monique Stenger, Michele Woolbert, Holly van de Rijn, bow Holly Berenotto and coxswain Dan Urbanek.

The new Our Lady of Mercy Academy girls team earned its first championship as stroke Abigail Kazan, Ginamarie Hartman, Mary Golden and Isabella Iezzi won a two-boat girls varsity quad race.

Holy Spirit assistant coach Ed Rehill, who works closely with the undefeated Sutton and Sweeney, was selected the Coach of the Year.

To e-mail Guy Gargan at The Press:

ggargan@pressofac.com

RESULTS

TEAMS-Holy Spirit, Mainland Regional, St. Augustine, Ocean City, Atlantic City, Absegami, Egg Harbor Township, Oakcrest, Vineland and Our Lady of Mercy Academy.

WOMEN'S SINGLE-Kendal Sweeney, HS, 8:04.70; 2. ABS, 9:51.57.

MEN'S SINGLE-1. Ian Deibert, ABS, 7:57.12; 2. OAK, 8:02.75; 3. SA, 8:26.55.

WOMEN'S DOUBLE-1. HS A, 7:12.80; 2. ABS, 7:57.52; 3. HS B, 9:26.74.

MEN'S DOUBLE-1. SA (stroke Jake Brady, bow Chris Mills) 7:03.31; 2. HS, 7:12.48; 3. ABS, 7:44.52.

WOMEN'S QUAD-1. OLMA, 6:53.00; 2. HS, 6:54.80.

MEN'S QUAD-1. SA (stroke Nico Richey, Ted Baumgardner, Steve Zipparo, bow Andrew Carmody) 6:16.54; 2. ABS.

WOMEN'S NOVICE EIGHT-1. OC (stroke Lisa Scully, Caterina Maggi, Natalie Bachich, Kelly Rupert, Chrissi Kuklinski, Helene Previti, Julie Stephano, bow Nicole Bachich, coxswain Jenna Saccoccio) 6:17.4; 2. MAIN, 6:32.73; 3. EHT, 7:10.01.

MEN'S NOVICE EIGHT-1. SA (stroke Michael Sutton, Joe Mohnack, Bob Applegate, John Szramiak, Kevin Sullivan, Kevin Walls, Zach Snyder, bow Spencer Randall, coxswain Sean Stevens) 5:47.30; 2. AC, 6:01.60; 3. MAIN, 6:04.50.

WOMEN'S NOVICE FOUR-1. OC (stroke Sami Smith, Kate Laverty, Alexa Nepa, bow Alex Moffatt, coxswain Randi Harding) 7:34.70; 2. AC, 7:42.57; 3. HS, 7:45.75.

MEN'S NOVICE FOUR-1. OAK A (stroke Alex Showell, Mitch Knott, Stephen Peplowski, bow Carmen Cincotti, coxswain A.J. Synkut) 6:23.20; 2. EHT, 6:43.32; 3. ABS, 6:49.12.

WOMEN'S FRESHMAN EIGHT-1. HS (stroke Sierra Baca, Rebecca Bailey, Katie Krauthouse, Theresa Smith, Ashley McMahon, Molly Given, Megan D'Alessandro, bow Ashley Peterson, coxswain Kerri Gallagher) 6:38.50; 2. AC; 3. ABS.

MEN'S FRESHMAN EIGHT-1. HS (stroke Dylan Conover, Nick Stewart, Teddy Zhang, Ryan O'Neill, Steve Enriquez, Mick Mayer, Cody Malia, bow Don Fowler, coxswain Dave Waugh) 5:23.20; 2. EHT, 5:26.00; 3. SA, 5:27.10.

WOMEN'S JUNIOR FOUR-1. OC (stroke Molly Lavin, Jessica Dallatt, Catherine Dierolf, bow Leanne Previti, coxswain Devon O'Brien) 5:33.72; 2. VINE, 5:50.80; 3. OLMA, 6:06.41.

MEN'S JUNIOR FOUR-1. EHT (stroke Cody Miller, Jim Frohner, Eric Lui, bow Matt Bilello, coxswain Rob Heck) 5:53.60; 2. OAK, 5:55.71; 3. ABS, 6:03.31.

WOMEN'S JUNIOR EIGHT-1. MAIN A (stroke Katie Hanlin, Kara Dods, Sarah Bell, Anne Edwards, Zoe Gasparotti, Tori Carroll, Sarah Slotoroff, bow Sam Conley, coxswain Jackie McKeone) 5:22.20; 2. EHT, 5:30.65; 3. HS, 5:32.99; 4. VINE, 5:33.31; 5. MAIN B, 6:08.50; 6. OAK, 6:19.45.

MEN'S JUNIOR EIGHT-1. SA (stroke Michael Faust, Paul Gallagher, Steven Devine, Matt Niedoba, Logan Levenson, Jesse Dondero, David DiMeglio, bow Vincent Granese, coxswain Chris Dobbins) 5:21,.60; 2. HS, 5:27.43; 3. MAIN, 5:34.19; 4. VINE, 5:39.79.

WOMEN'S LIGHTWEIGHT FOUR-1. EHT, 6:33.08; 2. OC, 6:45.53.

MEN'S LIGHTWEIGHT FOUR-1. ABS (stroke Michael O'Hagan, Ian Deibert, Zach Bauman, Joe Cuozzo, coxswain John Axelrod) 5:56.60; 2. EHT, 6:32.50; 3. SA, 6:58.00.

WOMEN'S LIGHTWEIGHT EIGHT-1. HS (stroke Cara Thomas, Caitlyn Houser, Kristin Hudak, Megan Fitzpatrick, Maryellen Curran, Julia Guenther, Katie McClure, bow Angela Freedman, coxswain Natalie Cordivari)6:21.28; 2. EHT, 7:04.

MEN'S LIGHTWEIGHT EIGHT-1. OC (stroke Chris Stickel, Matt Newsome, Pat Lavin, Jeff Buyse, Shawn Bryan, Corey Barnes, Adam Cordi, bow John Chester, coxswain Chad Rummler) 5:04.00; 2. SA, 5:08.88; 3. HS, 5:13.06; 4. EHT, 5:15.10; 5. OAK, 5:25.76.

WOMEN'S SECOND EIGHT-1. AC (stroke Liz Totoro, Brian Anderson, Tori Kane, Rachael Shanker, Alexis Blandine, Arielle Hirsch, Alex McCue, bow Hannah Totoro, coxswain Jeanine Tedesco) 5:02.23; 2. MAIN, 5:05.64; 3. HS, 5:08.02; 4. OAK, 5:17.23; 5. ABS, 5:22.77.

MEN'S SECOND EIGHT-1. HS (Brett Brestle, Art Pareene, Michael Gunsser, Tom Kresz, Ian DiMatteo, Erik Conover, Spencer Cason, bow Shawn Slattery, coxswain Caroline Kelly) 5:06.46; 2. SA, 5:15.06; 3. MAIN, 5:15.46; 4. OC, 5:19.36.

WOMEN'S VARSITY FOUR-1. OC (stroke Shawnee Foglio, Alexandra Russo, Alexa Antonioli, bow Heather Higbee, coxswain Nicole DeCredico) 6:21.20; 2. EHT, 6:42.03; 3. ABS, 7:02.48; 4. VINE, 7:08.84.

MEN'S VARSITY FOUR-1. ABS (stroke Mike Mirabella, Frank Agli, Michael Hopp, bow Brad Hegarty, coxswain Robert Tyszka) 5:40.10; 2. VINE, 5:40.63; 3. OAK, 5:47.70; 4. SA, 5:51.92; 5. AC, 5:56.94.

WOMEN'S VARSITY EIGHT-1. HS, 5:25.83; 2. MAIN, 5:28.56; 3. AC, 5:35.43; 4. ABS, 5:45.12; 5. OAK, 5:49.05.

MEN'S VARSITY EIGHT-1. HS, 4:50.87; 2. SA, 4:56.49; 3. MAIN, 5:01.55; 4. OC, 5:07.17.

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