Many of the 14 rowers from the Connecticut Boat Club, including all four from Darien, had gold and silver medals around their necks after they helped earn a spot on the podium for their boats at the San Diego Fall Classic.
The Connecticut rowers raced against crews from Calfornia, Oregon, Washington, Arizona, Nevada, Utah and Canada.
Photo from the Connecticut Boat Club
From left: Julia Abbruzzese, Heidi Jacobson, ViVi Van Ingen, Casey Batson and Catherine Garrett (Jacobson is from Greenwich, the other girls from CBC’s 1st Varsity 4+ boat are all from Darien.)
Four Darien Girls on Two Winning Boats
CBC’s First Varsity 4+ boat won Gold. Four of the five crew members of that boat are Darien girls: ViVi Van Ingen (coxswain), Catherine Garrett, Casey Batson and Julia Abbruzzese. Crew member Heidi Jacobson is from Greenwich. (See photo at right.)
The same four Darien girls were also on the crew of CBC’s First Varsity 8+, which finished 2nd out of 20 boats to earn a Silver medal. The crew of that boat also included Jacobson, as well as Bridget Galloway of Ridgefield, Ella Petreski of Pound Ridge, Jenna Macrae of Stamford and Kiki Stoker of Pound Ridge, New York.
Other CBC Boats Also Did Well
CBC’s 4X also took Silver in its race against 14 other crews. On that boat were Bridget Galloway of Ridgefield, Jenna Macrae of Stamford, Paige Pucel of Ridgefield and Ella Petreski of Pound Ridge.
The CBC Second Varsity 4+ boat earned Bronze in their 15-boat race, with crew members Ali Triano (coxswain) of Stamford, Jaia Wingard of Manhattan, Katherine Lynch of Ridgefield, Kiki Stoker of Pound Ridge and Eleanor Imrie of Wilton.
Photo from the Connecticut Boat Club
CBC rowers with their medals. From left (Darien girls in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS): Ali Triano, Katherine Lynch, CASEY BATSON, Kiki Stoker, JULIA ABBRUZZESE, Ella Petreski, Heidi Jacobson, Jenna Macrae, Bridget Galloway, Paige Pucel, VIVI VAN INGEN, CATHERINE GARRETT, Jaia Wingard and Eleanor Imrie)
About the Connecticut Boat Club
Connecticut Boat Club is a high performance female-only youth (middle school and high school) rowing club and Women’s Masters program based on the Norwalk River in Norwalk, Connecticut.
Founded in the spring of 2010 by U.S. National Team Junior/CBC head coach Liz Trond, the team includes girls from throughout southwestern Connecticut and Westchester County New York.
Not only has CBC proven to be a top-tier program in scholastic rowing, but almost every year a handful of CBC athletes compete for the USA at international events such as the Junior World Championships, where in 2018 Catherine Garrett won Gold in the Youth Women’s 4- and Heidi Jacobson and Julia Abbruzzesee won Bronze in the Youth Women’s 4+.
You can learn more by visiting the CBC website and CBC on Facebook.