Long Island Rowing Club overcomes vandalism

From broken boats to a national championship berth, it's been quite a year for the Long Island Rowing Club.

After an act of vandalism damaged 30 of the team's boats at the start of the season, LIRC recovered in time to qualify a lightweight girls doubles boat for the national championship in Cincinnati from June 11-13. The boat was one of six that medaled for the club at the state scholastic rowing championship May 8 at Fish Creek in Saratoga.

Tatiana Depaolo, a senior at Huntington who will be attending Boston University in the fall, and Northport sophomore Marissa Catalanotto piloted their boat to a second place overall finish, first in club events.

"I'm really excited," Catalanotto said. "I think Tatiana and I have a decent chance at nationals, so considering it's her last year and her last high school race, I want to do good so she leaves on a positive note."

That the pair was even able to get their craft into the water is a small miracle after vandals broke into the boat stowage facility March 10, two weeks before the start of the spring season, and tumbled 30 boats from their storage racks onto the floor. Some of the boats, which range in cost from $18,000-$30,000, were severely damaged.

"We were very fortunate that one of our parents owns a body shop," club president Al Lozito said. "He literally stopped working for a week and repaired boats, keeping us on the water."

Two months later, Catalanotto and Depaolo are set for Cincinnati. "It's an interesting pair," Lozito said. "The two of them are lightweight girls, 130 pounds or less, and they have similar rowing strengths."

Two months ago, they thought their dreams had been broken. "We were very worried that the crew program wasn't going to continue or we weren't going to have our boats fixed in time, but we all banded together and made the best of the situation," Catalanotto said.

Next month, they'll try to make them come true.