Following their come-from-behind win in the Varsity Four+Coxswain event at the Saratoga Invitational in late April, Rye High’s premier fours returned to Saratoga Lake and took home the New York State title May 10, in stunning fashion.

 

By Mitch Silver

 

Following their come-from-behind win in the Varsity Four+Coxswain event at the Saratoga Invitational in late April, Rye High’s premier fours returned to Saratoga Lake and took home the New York State title May 10, in stunning fashion. With junior Ally Sullivan wearing the megaphone, senior stroke Grant Janart, juniors Jim Palmer and Kiefer Mueller, and senior bowman Ryan Costa blew away the 27 other boats, winning by more than ten seconds over second-place Manhasset.

Those State Golds were the second of the day for Janart and Palmer, who teamed up to win the Men’s Senior Pairs title in a nail-biter, overtaking Orange County at the line by less than seven-tenths of a second.
Leslie Gallagher and Olivia Iles took Silver in the Women’s Senior Pairs high school division and qualified for the Scholastic Nationals in Princeton, New Jersey, May 23 and 24. Also going to Princeton are the Garnet rowers in the freshman eight-oared shell. John Dailey, Michael Batal, Clem Borgogni, John McFarland, Zhuo-Wei Lee, Frank Pauwels, Dylan Senkiw, Tolo Sutherland, and cox Bergin Keegan took the Bronze in the State final.

Adding to the Garnets’ Bronze haul were Tyler Clickner, Brendan Faries, Max French, and Alex Sutherland in the Men’s Junior Fours.

With their victories, Janart, Palmer, Mueller, Costa, and Sullivan earned automatic invitations to US Rowing’s Youth Nationals in Sacramento, California June 13-15.

Their coach, Stan Nelson, couldn’t be happier. “Senior Grant Janart has been with the team for all four years. So has our singles rower, Jackson Burke, who’s always had a passion for the small boats. Together as captains, they’ve set the standard that the team strives for now.”