Crescent Boat Club’s annual awards banquet honoring the achievements of 2014 was held on March 28.
There was a special tribute to the past and current Henley winners. An old Crescent tradition started by Tom Rafferty was reviled with the awarding of Crescent watches to the winners of championship international regattas.
The following were presented watches for their wins at Henley
- 2014 Men’s Junior 4x John Walker, Joe Leyland, Emmett Orts, Bill Schmidt
- 2000 Men’s Junior 4x Al Peirce, John Snyder, Tim Gallagher, Ryan Halligan
- 2001 Men’s Junior 4x Matt Henwood, Mike Pierce, Al Monte, Kyle Ochal
- 2002 Men’s Junior 4x Matt Henwood, Al Monte, Glen Ochal, Kyle Ochal
- 2006 Men’s Senior B 2x Rodrigo Murillo, Glenn Ochal
- 2006 Men’s Senior B 4x Rodrigo Murillo, Glenn Ochal, Justin Ochal, Chris Bratton
Tom Henwood, coach of the 2000, 2001 and 2002 victories was presented with The Daniel Ragan Award for his prior dedication to the success of these crews.
Jim Marano and John Pagano were presented with the 2014 Spirit Award for their behind the scene service to the club. Jim and John maintain the web site, installed the video security system and are involved in various house projects.
The most improved rower of the year was Chad Coursen who returned to rowing after taking some time off and challenged his fellow rowers.
The highlight of our annual banquet is the presentation of the Most Valuable Rower Award. The 2014 recipient is Casey Howshall. Casey was the leader of rebirth of the U23 program. He was also a finalist in 3 Canadian Henley events.
Mike Pierce presented a short biography of our new captain Justin Ochal and then continued with Justin’s plan for the future of Crescent’s Racing Program. Here is a summary:
Justin’s bio:.
- Four year rower at Roman. graduated in 2006
- Represented Crescent and the U.S. at the Junior World Championship in 2005
- Philadelphia Catholic league Champion, Stotesbury Cup and SRAA Varsity quad champion,
- U-23(senior b) quad Canadian Henley Champ 2006
- Four year rower at Northeastern 2010 captain
- Northeastern coach 2010-2011
- Assistant coach Roman and Crescent 2012-2013
- Currently coaching at Mercer Juniors
Plan’s for future:.
My goal as captain is to have more of our athletes attend and win trials for the Jr and U23, and have more boats win at Canadian Henley. I will do my best to give our athletes the best advantages that I possibly can . The club recently purchased 4 new boats, 3 ergs and many new sets of oars. Things like this wouldn’t be possible with out the support of our members, parents, and past winners fueling the younger generation to carry on the winning ways. If you would like to chat about the plans that the club has/wants the rowing programs to do please feel free to email me at [email protected]