Mercer Indoor Row For The Cure Results

On March 12 and 13, the Mercer Indoor Row for the Cure went virtual.  Utilizing the Concept2 ErgRace platform, the rowing machines were connected virtually for the event.  Athletes could see their progress as well as the race leader and their closest competition on the monitor of their rowing machine.  While last year’s event included a virtual option, this was the first year that the event was fully virtual.

Eugenia Rodriguez and Devon Reid led the Varsity Girls open and lightweight categories.  Julian Thomas and George Drago won the Varsity Boy’s open and lightweight divisions.  In the Novice races Vivian Teeley and Alvin Tien posted the quickest times. In the 500 meter sprints, Stephen Gamma won the open division with Bella Jaffe taking the Girls Coxswain and Matt Califano posting the quickest time in the Men’s Coxswain division.

Full results can be found here.

The Mercer Indoor Row for the Cure is part of the Row for the Cure series of events that raise money to support the Susan G. Komen’s fight to eliminate breast cancer.

The results for this year’s

Mercer Junior Rowers Collect Over 3,000 Pounds of Food for Local Food Bank

In Janury the Mercer Junior Varsity Girls laid down a challenge to the Mercer Varsity Boys and Novice teams to see who could collect the most food to support the Mercer Street Friends Food Bank and the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen. The challenge came in the form of a video which can be seen here: Click here to see the video challenge

The complete team stepped up an took on the challenge with amazing results.  A total of  3,104.1 pounds of food and essential items was collected.  The Varsity Girls contributed over a ton of this total with 2,097.8 pounds.  There were followed by the Varsity Boys with 562.5 pounds and the Novices with 443.8 pounds.

“The food drive was a great way to break out of our rowing community bubble and put our team spirit towards helping others.” said Varsity Girls Captain Charvee Dua.  “When everyone was bringing in the food, we would carry the donations into the office one by one so it still seemed very small scale. It was amazing to see just how much food we were able to get with all the teams combined. Seeing every single donation add up to a sum of a little over 3000 pounds of food really embodied how much teamwork matters for this team, and it feels really good to unify and do something incredible for our community when we can’t currently do that “something incredible” out on the race course.”

Congratulations to everyone who contributed! A special thank you to the girls’ team for their work in organizing and challenging everyone.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

About Princeton National Rowing Association
The Princeton National Rowing Association (PNRA), a 501(c)3 organization, operates the Finn M.W. Caspersen Rowing Center located on the shores of Mercer Lake, Mercer County Park in West Windsor, N.J. PNRA is dedicated to providing a venue where athletes of all ages, talents and backgrounds have the opportunity to develop their rowing abilities to their highest potential.  As a United States Olympic Training Site, PNRA is home to the USRowing National Team, as well as scholastic and community rowing programs. PNRA runs the Mercer Junior and Masters Rowing Programs and conducts outreach activities seeking to expand the involvement in rowing in the greater Mercer County, N.J., region.

Happy Holidays from PNRA/Mercer Rowing

We wish you and your family a safe, healthy and relaxing holiday season! 

Thank you for your continued support of PNRA and the Mercer Rowing Programs during these challenging times. We look forward to the new year and seeing you on the shores and on the water at Mercer Lake soon!

With the warmest of holiday wishes,

Kris Grudt, PNRA Executive Director

Hilary Gehman, Dir. of Mercer Rowing Programs

Jamie Hamp, Varsity Boys Coach

Sarah Trowbridge, Varsity Girls Coach

Aidan Hennessey, Novice Boys Coach

Jules Howarth, Novice Girls Coach

Jen Whiting, Masters Coach

Arlynn Baer, Outreach and Inclusion Manager

Mercer Junior Rowers Named to 2020-2021 USRowing Scholastic Honor Roll

Mercer Junior Rowers Theodore Schneider and Devon Reid have been named to USRowing’s 2020-2021 Scholastic Honor Role. Schneider, a Pennsbury High School Student is in his third year as a member of the Mercer Junior Rowing Program. Reid, a senior at Rumson Fair Haven Regional High School is in her second year with the Mercer Junior Rowing Program.

Four Mercer Junior Rowers received Honorable Mentions on the Scholastic Honor Role:

Charvee Dua, Plainsboro-West Windsor High School South

Arianna Mancuso, Plainsboro-West Windsor High School South

Kyle Rutter, Plainsboro-West Windsor High School South

Arya Sasne, Plainsboro-West Windsor High School South

The Princeton National Rowing Association and Mercer Rowing congratulate these student athletes on their achievements.

For the complete Scholastic Honor Role: https://usrowing.org/news/2020/10/5/news-usrowing-announces-2020-2021-scholastic-honor-roll.aspx

PNRA/Mercer Hires Sarah Trowbridge as Junior Women’s Varsity Head Coach

Sarah Trowbridge, a 6 time national team member and 2012 Olympian, will be the next Mercer Junior Women’s Varsity Head Coach. Trowbridge will replace Matt Carlsen who accepted an Assistant Coach position with the Duke University women’s rowing team.

“I’m very excited to join the Mercer Juniors’ coaching staff and to contribute to such a long standing successful program,” said Trowbridge. “The combination of an excited and passionate group of athletes, an engaged community of families, and the supportive staff, make me thrilled to work with this team!”

Trowbridge has an extensive coaching career spanning the last 15 years which includes collegiate positions with Georgetown University (Lightweight Women’s Assistant Coach), Yale University (Women’s Assistant Coach) and most recently the Head Women’s Coach at the University of San Diego. Trowbridge was the Elite Program Head Coach at Vesper Boat Club in Philadelphia as well the coach of the US Women’s Lightweight Double (bronze medal, 2019 World Championships) and US Women’s Double (6th place at the 2016 Rio Olympics, bronze and silver medals respectively at the 2018 and 2019 World Championships). As a member of 6 senior national teams, Trowbridge has won medals in both sculling and sweep at World Championship events.

Mercer Rowing Program Director, Hilary Gehman stated: “I am so pleased to welcome Sarah to the Mercer coaching staff. She is one of the most well respected coaches in the country and we are extremely lucky to have her join the Mercer community. Her competitive success as an athlete and coach are impressive credentials, but her passion for the sport and for developing each athlete to their potential is what makes Sarah truly stand out. She will be a tremendous asset to the Mercer Junior program.”

Trowbridge graduated from the University of Michigan and currently resides in Rocky Hill with her husband, Bryan Volpenhein and their two children.