Head of the Fish Regatta 2024
On Saturday, October 26th, the Aggies took a trip to Saratoga Springs, New York, to compete in the Head of the Fish Regatta. The Aggies competed with 17 boats across nine events. The events are as follows: Men’s Collegiate Singles (4 entries), Men’s Collegiate Double (1 entry), Men’s Collegiate/Open Pairs (3 entries), Men’s Open/Collegiate Quad (1 entry), Men’s Collegiate Fours (3 entries), Men’s Collegiate Eight (1 entry), Men’s 2V Collegiate Eight (1 entry), Men’s Collegiate Novice Four (2 entries), and Men’s Collegiate Novice Eight (1 entry). The day began and continued with a frigid feel with a heavy headwind impacting many of the races. Many Aggies raced multiple times, with a handful racing 3 times allowing for a full day of Massachusetts Crew competition.
The first event of the day was the Men’s Collegiate Singles, where Robert Mottau (8th), Sam Sturdy (9th), Kayan Volpe (11th), and Zachary Kirchner (13th) competed. Within the singles, UMass had a strong showing comprised of individuals with and without racing experience, allowing for a nice warmup for the rest of the day,
The next event was the Men’s Collegiate Double, where Luke Shamaly (stroke) and Brandon Burns (bow) raced to a 7th place finish in a large field of multiple different schools. This was the double’s first race together.
To move over to sweeping, the Aggies raced three boats in the Men’s Collegiate/Open Pairs event. The pair of James Burnham (stroke) and Luka Lasic (bow) took 2nd (pictured right), followed by Gage Lane (stroke) and Danny Smith (bow), who missed out on medals by 4 seconds, resulting in a 4th place finish, and rounding out the pairs was Max Johnson (stroke) and Matthew Lavoie (bow) who took 8th.
Finishing the sculling for the Aggies for the day was the Men’s Open/Collegiate Quad, where the crew comprised of Sam Sturdy (stroke), Mark Legarda (3), Robert Mottau (2), and Brandon Burns (bow) battled to a 6th place finish among a tough field consisting of Olympians, like Aggie Alumni Sean Richardson.
Moving to the Men’s Collegiate Fours, the Aggies raced three boats in the increasingly windy conditions. The first of which had James Burnham (stroke), Matthew Lavoie (3), Max Johnson (2), Brandon Burns (bow), and Mitchell Cruz (C), who raced to a 4th place finish. The second boat to be sent out was Gage Lane (stroke), Danny Smith (3), Zachary Kirchner (2), Deylin Uysal (bow), and Jonathon Shi (C), competed to a 9th place finish, followed by the next boat consisting of Luke Shamaly (stroke), West Williams (3), Jason Misha (2), Nicholas Parikh (bow), and Kayan Volpe (C) who placed 13th.
Moving to the bigger boats, the Aggies competed in the Men’s Collegiate Eight and Men’s 2V Collegiate Eight events. In the Collegiate Eight event, the Aggies sent out Mark Legarda (8), Sam Sturdy (7), Zachary Kirchner (6), Matthew Lavoie (5), Max Johnson (4), Luka Lasic (3), Gage Lane (2), Deylin Uysal (bow), and Skylar Ellis (C) who raced to a 9th place finish where places 4th-10th was decided within 10 seconds while battling very windy conditions. They were the 2nd ACRA school overall in the event. Moving to the 2V event, where the boat comprised Luke Shamaly (stroke), West Williams (7), Jason Miska (6), Nicholas Parikh (5), Marcus Larsson (4), Ethan Elalamy (3), Jack Molinari (2), Ahaan Singh (bow), and Allison Olson (C), raced to 7th place finish to round out the varsity racing for the day.
For the Novice, there were two four entries. One of which comprised Graham Schwendt (stroke), Quinn Keating (3), Ryan Stewart (2), Ryan Greenwood (bow), and Chad Zannotti (C), who placed 2nd, missing out on first place by 4 seconds (pictured right). The second four, who boated Ryan Tessitore (4), Adam Post-Montjoie (3), Ethan Holmes (2), Ismael Mendez (bow), and Vivian Kalik (C) raced to a 6th place finish.
The Men’s Collegiate Novice Eight had one entry for Aggies comprised of Graham Schwendt (stroke), Ryan Greenwood (7), Ryan Stewart (6), Quinn Keating (5), Drew Olson (4), Augustus Elam (3), Anders Borger (2), Parikshith Hebbar (bow), and Datya Kurzban (C) continued their competitive fall season, racing to a 2nd place finish.
The Head of the Fish closed out the fall racing season for the Aggies, as they now move indoors shortly with the weather getting colder, looking to build strength and speed for the upcoming spring season. Thank you to everyone who helped and supported the Aggies at all fall regattas, and we hope to see you and your support in the Spring.
