As winter comes to a close, the Pelham Community Rowing Association (PCRA) boys and girls varsity teams head towards the water in preparation for the upcoming spring season.

Captains for the girls team are PMHS senior Kaitlyn Rubbo and Ursuline School’s Bianca McIver. The team this year is comprised primarily of underclassmen, although there are few graduating seniors. After the departure of coach Henrik Rummel in the middle of the winter season, the team leans on new Program Director and Women’s Head Coach Justin Stangel and Assistant Coach Elizabeth Calder.

“We’ve been preparing for this spring season all throughout winter by building up our fitness,” Rubbo said. “We’re also working on shorter pieces with higher rating to get ready for the upcoming spring races.”

At the 2018 NY State Championships, the varsity eight boat for the boys team placed 6th. With hopes to get a boat placing 1st or 2nd at the State Championships this year and advance to the Youth Nationals, the team is pushing themselves to make that goal a reality.

According to captain Brian Lilly, from Scarsdale High School, the boys team made improvements in their winter training season and are looking to continue that path in the spring. The team is run by Head Coach Reid Johnson and Assistant Coach Ryan Dronzek.

“In the past few years our new coaching staff has dramatically increased the standard of performance of the team and improved our depth of skill to an incredible degree,” Lilly said.

The teams look forward to competing at the Mercer Sprints Regatta in Princeton, NJ (April 19-20), the Saratoga Invitational (April 27-28), and NY State Championships (May 10-12), both in Saratoga, NY.