St. Joe's Finds Success After a Year with No Rowing
After more than a year with almost no live action in boats and with light numbers, the St. Joe’s rowing team wasn’t sure how the 2021 season would go.
It’s safe to say they surprised to the upside, winning the New York State Championship and finishing third at nationals before coming home to close out the season by winning the Charles Fontana All-High Regatta.
“If you had told me that we would be taking third at nationals this year back in August, I would’ve laughed in your face,” said senior Sebastian Gwitt. “Our varsity squad consisted of 10 guys – the lowest in nearly a decade. And on top of that, we were undersized, lacking the erg power that many other elite teams had.”
Following the 2020 campaign, the team graduated nine seniors – almost half of the team – so the squad had just a pair of 12th graders in Gwitt and Mike Moriarty.
They didn’t get out of the small boats until March and were sick of the rowing machines after 18 months when they finally got their first race. Their Varsity 8 team was humbled by defending champion Central Catholic, which prompted them to split their forces going forward.
Gwitt, Lars Finlayson '22, Christian Trotter '22, CJ Zilliox '22, and coxswain Moriarty manned the Varsity 4, while juniors Matt Sinatra, Kyan Chase, Alex Glenn and Anthony Depinto were on the Junior Varsity 4 along with their coxswain Mike Cannavo '22.
The results were good as the Marauders won their events in The John Bennett race and then competed a week later at the Stotesbury Cup Regatta – the largest high school regatta in the world. Against teams loaded with future Division I rowers, St. Joe’s shocked everyone by placing fourth.
“Compared to the competition we were young, undersized, and unproven,” Gwitt said. “But we had the race of our lives and came in fourth. It was after that race that a switch flipped. We realized that we could not only hang with the best in the country, but we were one of the best in the country.”
They went on to win a state title a week later and third at nationals the week after that; they might have finished better in the latter as the Marauders were unbeaten through the early rounds before the event was called by poor weather.
The following day, the team put an exclamation point on its season by winning the All High Regatta, winning both four-man events and then combining to win the 8-man as well.
“That was the best way to end a high school career,” Gwitt said. “Overall, this season was a surprise. No one expected us to go out and throw down like that, and the best part was that we had fun doing it. I can truly call the guys that I rowed with brothers, and I’m sure they could say the same for me.”
Zimmerman is State Wrestling Champ; Jones Hits Milestone
Freshman Austin Zimmerman won at 102 pounds this past weekend in the Catholic High School Athletic Association Wrestling Championships at Monsignor Farrell High School on Staten Island.
Zimmerman defeated Aidan McAlister of Fordham Prep, 15-0, by technical fall in the final to become the 20th CHSAA champion in program history.
Also at the state meet, sophomore Luke Ventresca (145), senior Ronnie Jones (189) and senior Aidan Wright (285) each finished fifth.
Six days earlier, Jones won Wrestler of the Year honors after becoming only the 14th four-time All-Catholic champion in the 55-year history of the Monsignor Martin Athletic Association’s league championship.
Jones is the fifth St. Joe’s wrestler to win four, joining Chris Smith ‘93, Jack Cambria ‘11, Travis Berube ‘13, and his brother, Richie Jones ’15. He set a league record for quickest pin (six seconds) and a school record for quickest aggregate pins (15 seconds).
The Marauders won the league title for the seventh straight year and head coach Bradley Devlin '05 was named Coach of the Year.
Other All-Catholic champions included Zimmerman (102), Michael Jarosz '21 (138), Ventresca (145) and Wright (285).
Finishing second were Ree Reh '24 (126), Jayson Kline '24 (132), Tyler MacLeod '23 (138) and Ben Gambino '24 (215); while Michael Cannavo '22 (145), Dorian Buckley '24 (152), Luke Kopacz '24 (160), John VanVessem '22 (172) and Michael Vision '24 (214) were third; Javier Torres '23 (152), Anthony DePinto '22 (170) and Nathaniel Lopez '24 (215) were fourth; and Eric Aquilina '22 (152) and Hakim Mosegi '23 (189) were fifth.