Just call CHS Rowing's history-making Senior Eight the champions of North America.
One week after winning the U.S. scholastic title in the Senior Eight for the first time, Canisius did the same thing north of the border on Sunday as it won the Canadian Secondary Schools Rowing Association national championship.
"These past two weekends are the greatest results for the entire Canisius program, going back to its inception," said CHS coach Jacob Filby '14. "This is a special crew propped up by fantastic teammates and a tremendous culture around hard work, ambition, spirit and perseverance."
The historic CHS boat consisted of coxswain
Noah Rajecki '25 of Buffalo and included senior captains
Liam Feeney '25 of West Seneca (stroke) and
Isaiah Aljuwani '25 of Kenmore along with
Meer Renschler Pandey '25 of Amherst,
Ethan Pirigyi '26 of Buffalo,
Trevor Wierzbowski '25 of Cheektowaga,
Brodie Vitko '27 of Hamburg,
Oliver Reynolds '26 of Buffalo and
Kohler Stewart '25 of Amherst (bow).
Canisius won a battle with Brentwood College School of Vancouver, British Columbia to win the CSSRA title on the Royal Canadian Henley course in St. Catharines, Ontario.
The Crusaders charged to the finish of the 2,000-meter course to win by a quarter-second, going 6:08.21 ahead of the runner-up's 6:08.46, to win the Calder Cleland Memorial Trophy. Third-place McLean High School of Virginia was more than 10 seconds back.
This first CSSRA Senior Eight title follows Canisius' first-ever Senior Eight victory at the Scholastic Rowing Association of America championships last week.
The Canisius Novice Eight took CSSRA silver, finishing second to Brentwood. In the CHS boat were
Linden Serbinowski '27 (stroke),
Joseph Cheney '26, Collin Harper '28,
Carter Micoli '28, Alexander Pula '28, Elliott Embow '28, Charles Welsch '28,
Eli Feuerstein '28 (bow) and
Andrew Harris (coxswain) '28.
Canisius will finish its season at the USRowing Youth National Championships in Sarasota, Florida from June 12-15, where the competition includes high school programs and club programs.
"We have one more opportunity to prove that we belong in the conversation of not just the best high schools, but the best rowing programs of any kind in North America," said Filby.
Young athletes looking to start a rewarding career in this great sport or hone their rowing skills can do so by learning from our championship program during our Best. Summer. Ever. camps via canisiushigh.org/bestsummerever
Families interested in the decades-long winning tradition of CHS Rowing and the excellence only found in a Jesuit education at Canisius – ranked as the Buffalo area's "Best Catholic School" by Business First – can learn more by arranging an on-campus experience via canisiushigh.org/visit
This place is special. Let us show you why.
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