June 2009

June 3, 2009- New Milford, CT-- GMS Rowing Center out of New Milford, CT Center once again demonstrated its depth and strength in sculling events, bringing home six medals- two gold- two silver and two bronze- from the New England Mid-Atlantic Regional Rowing Championships held May16-17 on Lake Quinsigamond in Worcester, MA. This annual regatta brought together 1800 competitors -rowing for 53 teams from ten states. As a result of these victories, GMS qualified six boats for the US Rowing National Championships to be held in Cincinnati Ohio June 12-14.

Winning gold were Kim Hopewell from Ridgefield and Celia Kohl from Wilton who placed first in the Women’s 2x with a time of 7:41.7, a full 15 seconds ahead of second place Saugatuck Rowing Club. Hopewell also took home a gold medal in the Women’s 1x (single), a mere .06 seconds ahead of fellow GMS teammate Kelsey Reelick of Brookfield who won a silver medal. Also competing in the Women’s 1X event were New Milford’s Anna Kobayashi who placed 4th and Kohl who placed 5th out of 11 entries.

After winning both the Sarah Cooper Cup and the Long Island Championships, the GMS Women’s 4x (quad) was one of the teams to beat, and placed second , just one second behind Saratoga Rowing Association. Racing in the quad were Hopewell, Reelick and Kobayashi along with fellow Ridgefield teammate Mairi McKellop. A second GMS quad also competed in this event- New Milford’s Rebecca Sanders and Christi Kowalczyk, Ridgefield’s Maria Maydan and Bridgewater’s Molly Marcucilli -who finished fourth in their heat.

The boy’s team also competed very well in their two events, the 4x and 2x. Matt Savino from New Fairfield, Justin Cromwell and Sam Rouse from New Milford and Greg Burke from Redding won a bronze medal in the 4x. Newtown’s Eric Wessel and New Milford’s Dave Cullmer won their heat by a margin of six seconds and then won bronze in the 2x final , finishing just .5 seconds out of second place behind New Canaan, in one of the most exciting finishes of the afternoon.

GMS Rowing Center is located at New Milford, CT and enjoys some of the best rowing water in the Northeast. It offers rowing programs for all ages from high school (Grades 8 through 12), college students to adults. It has programs ranging from learn-to-row through to experienced competitive athletes. This year we helped a number of high school students achieve scholarships to college and look forward to helping more students achieve their ambitions. In addition GMS offers highly regarded personalized training programs. For more details please visit www.gmsrowingcenter.us