Manhasset on top in crew championships

Nassau County no longer has Division I football, but the festivities at yesterday's Long Island high school crew championships at Centre Island Beach in Bayville shows it still knows how to tailgate.

Thirty-four teams and more than 1,000 rowers from Riverhead to South Jersey to New Rochelle converged on the North Shore beach, barbecuing and socializing under tents adorned with school colors.

Between heats, athletes played football, Frisbee, soccer and hacky sack. Others sprawled out and slept or listened to music. Many waited in line for a shrewdly parked ice cream truck, whose owner amassed a small frozen fortune.

It was unlike any typical Long island high school event.

"Everyone's so nice," said Friends Academy's Sigal Markowitz, who teamed with Nina Vascotto to win the girls varsity doubles. "You don't expect it because we're all competing against each other. But you get to know everyone."

Said Manhasset's Stefan Hummel: "It's always a great day. You're in the water, then you go grab some barbecue. It's like a picnic."

Hummel's teammate Sean McIntee certainly appreciated those breaks. He competed in seven different races during the nine-hour regatta.

As the afternoon wore on, the makeshift tent city dwindled, but familiar Long Island colors still flew. Private powers such as St. Anthony's, Friends Academy, St. John the Baptist and Our Lady of Mercy mixed with plucky publics such as Manhasset, Huntington, Cold Spring Harbor and Bay Shore in the day's final races.

In the end, no team topped Manhasset. McIntee and Hummel teamed with Max Johnson, Paris Thatos, Chris Kasabian, Alan Delaney, Justin Erb, Christian Voto and coxswain Alex Kavourias to win the boys lightweight 8-plus race.

This is the first year the Indians have had enough lightweight rowers to fill an eight-man boat and the team is optimistic about next week's New York championships in Saratoga.

Just as impressive were the Manhasset girls. Megan Clarke, Jen Aitken, Elizabeth Henry, Ali Margherio and coxswain Margot Cyprus won the varsity 4-plus race. Olivia Henry, Leah Ruggiero, Maria Manis, Kristen Wilhouski and coxswain Justine Yunakov won the 4-plus lightweight race.

The two squads combined, with Cyprus as coxswain, and won the 8-plus race, coming from behind to capture their final gold medal.

"It's definitely our team chemistry," Manis said. "If people saw us in the water before, we're joking and talking, they probably wouldn't think we were that competitive."

Said Clarke: "We come from a lacrosse town. It's nice to get our school known for something else."