Niagara rowers earn NextGen world spots
Lucas Maroney will represent Canada in the double at the upcoming junior worlds. BPSN Photo
There will be a strong Niagara presence in Varese, Italy, later this month at the 2022 World Rowing U23 and U19 Championships.
Chosen for the under-23 team were: Michael Ciepiela from the St. Catharines Rowing Club/Brock University in the men’s double; Stephen Harris from the Guelph Rowing Club/Brock University in the lightweight men’s single; Grimsby’s Hailey Mercuri from the Ridley Graduate Boat Club/University of Iowa in the women’s eight; Payton Gauthier from the Niagara Falls Rowing Club in the men’s eight; Mitchell Rodgers from the St. Catharines Rowing Club/University of Victoria in the men’s eight; and, coxie Nicholas Murray-Coplen from the St. Catharines Rowing Club/University of Victoria in the men’s eight.
Under-23 coaches include Greg Szybka from Rowing Canada/Ontario NextGen Performance Centre in Welland and Scott Anderson from the St. Catharines Rowing Club/Brock University.
Ciepiela, a second-year business student from Brampton, is making his first appearance for Canada after not getting invited to the trials last year.
Harris, a second-year economics student from Guelph who was named Brock’s 2021-22 male athlete of the year, was a member of a Canadian quad that placed 10th at the junior worlds in 2019. He also won a bronze medal at this year’s world ergometer championships.
Mercuri placed 16th in the double at the 2019 junior worlds.
Gauthier won the junior men’s single at the 2021 Canadian championships and represented Canada in a quad at the 2021 junior worlds.
Rodgers was a member of a Canadian coxed four that placed fourth at the 2018 junior worlds.
Murray-Coplen is making his first appearance for Canada. The Governor Simcoe grad coxed Victoria’s men’s eight to a silver medal at the 2021 Canadian University Rowing Championships.
Selected for the under-19 team were: Shane Keagan from Ridley College in the men’s four; Malarie Jones from the Notre Dame Rowing Club in the women’s four; Owen Bartel from the St. Catharines Rowing Club and Lucas Maroney from the Notre Dame Rowing Club in the men’s double; Cait Whittard from the St. Catharines Rowing Club in the women’s double; and, Stella Bittman and Madeson Scott from the Notre Dame Rowing Club and Autumn Crowe from Ridley College in the women’s quad.
Under-19 coaches include Anderson, Mike Petrychanko from the St. Catharines Rowing Club, Mary Rao from Brock University and Szybka.
Keagan, an 2022 Ontario erg champion, was a member of a Canadian quad that competed at the World Rowing Junior Championships in Plovdiv, Bulgaria.
Jones, another 2022 Ontario erg champion, won gold medals in the coxed four and eight at the recent Canadian Secondary Schools Rowing Association championships.
Bartel was a CSSRA champion this spring in the senior men’s single and double.
Maroney, a CanAmMex section in 2021, won the junior men’s single and placed second in the senior single at the 2022 Schoolboy championships. He also won the single at the Stotesbury Cup.
Whittard, a CanAmMex section in 2021, won the junior women’s single at the national championships last fall and captured the single at the Stotesbury Cup and Schoolboy this spring.
Scott and Bittman won gold in the junior women’s double at the Stotesbury Cup in Philadelphia. Scott then won CSSRA gold this spring in the quad and double while Bittman garnered CSSRA gold in the single and double.
Crowe won a gold medal in the under-17 single at last fall at the Head of the Charles regatta in Boston.
Locals selected to attend the CanAmMex training camp and regatta are: Mathias Essig and Sydney Swick from the Ridley Graduate Boat Club; Matthew Johnston, Alessio Perco and Owen Nicholls from E.L. Crossley; Makeda Harrison from the St. Catharines Rowing Club; and, Clara Van Dyk from the Notre Dame Rowing Club.
One of the CanAmMex coaches is Katie Bruggeling, a St. Catharines Rowing Club alumna who is the head coach at Queen’s University.
