Seventh Henley gold for local pair

Winning the women’s lightweight eight dash Saturday at the Henley regatta was a St. Catharines crew made up of Olivia Jose, Alicia Piazza, Kaitlyn Dennis, Carly Zanatta, Andrea  Jansen, Margaret Gralewicz, Erin Corkery, Jennifer Beaudette and Brooke Kew.

Christian McAlpine and Andrew Barry combined Saturday to win their seventh career Henley gold medal in the men’s under-19 pair.

The two had been in several other St. Catharines Rowing Club Henley championship boats together during the past five summers, but it was their first time together in the pair.

“Our brothers used to always row together and we kind of felt like we always wanted to be better than them so I guess here we are,” Barry said.

His older brother, Evan, no longer rows.

McAlpine, who saw his brother Ethan win his second career Henley gold Thursday, feels that trust is the biggest component of the pair’s partnership.

“I think it’s just that we trust each other on the water,” the Grimsby and District Secondary School graduate said. “We know we are going to get the job done.”

The decision to get the job done together started last spring when they were cut from the junior national team.

‘We took that as a chip on our shoulders and we went out this year, won junior trials, but stayed home all summer instead of going out west,” McAlpine said. ‘We made it our goal to improve in the pair and eventually do this.”

The soon-to-be scholarship rower at the University of Pennsylvania said it was a tough decision to stay at home and not chase their junior national aspirations.

“It was how our past experiences had gone and we would be missing both our grads and proms,” McAlpine said.

Barry, who just graduated Grade 12 at Governor Simcoe, will be taking a gap year to help determine his future path.

“Hopefully I can get a scholarship opportunity and figure out what I want to do,” he said.

Winning the women’s lightweight eight dash was a St. Catharines crew made up of Olivia Jose, Alicia Piazza, Kaitlyn Dennis, Carly Zanatta, Andrea Jansen, Margaret Gralewicz, Erin Corkery, Jennifer Beaudette and Brooke Kew.

Winning the men’s lightweight eight dash was the St. Catharines crew made up of Eric Buchanan, Brad Iafrate, Noah Van Helvert, Owen Voelkner, Ryan Walter, Johan May, Jacob Martens, Jacob Giesbrecht and Autumn Bland.

Local crews that finished second Saturday included: St. Catharines Rowing Club’s men’s under-23 quad (Brandan Andrews, Ethan McAlpine, Erik Hohnstein and Alex Jastremski); St. Catharines Rowing Club’s men’s senior lightweight pair (Eric Buchanan and Jacob Giesbrecht); Ridley Grad’s men’s under-23 lightweight double (Samuel Court and Ethan  Enns); St. Catharines Rowing Club’s women’s under-19 pair (Isabel Frolick and Alexandra Wiley); and, St. Catharines Rowing Club’s women’s under-23 quad (Keira Allen, Amanda Martin, Emma Dockray and Anna Maloney).

Niagara boats that placed third Saturday were: St. Catharines’ women’s senior lightweight four (Erin Corkery, Kailyn Dennis, Margaret Gralewicz and Andrea Jansen); and, the St. Catharines men’s lightweight eight in the dash (Michael Adamczyk Jr., Tyler Vanderloos, Donald Bagozzi, Justin Felker, Owen Powell, Cameron Hickman, Owen Hughes, Joe Coughler and Kennedy Keith).

Following are the results of all the other Niagara boats who made Henley finals Saturday:

Women’s under-17 cox four: 4. St. Catharines (Megan Jackson, Teagan Orth, Cait Whittard, Rylie Wake and Bianca Faraci).

Men’s under-17 single: 5. Niagara Falls (Payton Gauthier).

Men’s under-23 lightweight double: 4. Niagara Falls (Antonio Didomenico and James Sisley); 6. St. Catharines (Owen Voelkner and Kevin Keith);

Men’s lightweight single dash: 4. St. Catharines (Kevin Keith); 5. Ridley Grad (Jack Petrunick).

Through three days of finals, including dashes, the St. Catharines Rowing Club leads the way with seven golds. The University of British Columbia, Vesper and Riverside are next with four wins apiece.

Racing concludes Sunday with finals running from 10 a.m. to 3:20 p.m.