3 boats from Fox Chapel compete at scholastic rowing national championships

By: Josh Rizzo
Saturday, June 14, 2025 | 11:45 PM

This wasn’t the best spring for training for rowing competitions. The Fox Chapel rowing crew was able to make accommodations to put them in the best spot for success.

Niko Vavpetic and his teammates — Gavin Nguyen, Keitaro Inada and Ian Wellman — will line up their rowing machines on dry land to make sure they are building and staying on track.

“We’ll put them in order of where we are supposed to be in the boat from front to back,” Vavpetic said. “We will work out at a high resistance and have each person visualize how things should be and match up their body swings and leg drive.”

The group qualified for the men’s junior 4x SRAA Nationals last month in New Jersey. It was their third competition of the spring, previously taking part in a local race and the Midwest Regional championships and winning both.

They were one of three Fox Chapel crew boats to qualify for the event. The women’s junior 2x of Sophia Tai and Marlowe Schmidt also qualified, along with the women’s varsity 4x, which includes Noelle Dick, Kate Banyas, Emilia Boleng and Nora Kelley. They were the first Fox Chapel women’s teams to race at nationals since 2015.

Vavpetic said the team built a lot of chemistry throughout the year. Some of it was a result of training. Others were due to time spent together in the classroom.

“Gavin and I have all of our classes together, so we’ve built chemistry through that,” Vavpetic said. “Our team has built chemistry ever since we’ve met each other. Since the first practice, we’ve clicked.”

Vavpetic was making his third appearance at nationals. He qualified with Lucas Gravina last year and placed sixth in the A final at nationals. As a ninth grader, Vavpetic qualified for nationals in the freshman division.

Vavpetic said Fox Chapel rowers have an intense practice schedule. They work out five times a week together for practice. Vavpetic does extra work with the Sylvan Scullers, going to practice with them three times a week.

It’s essential to build a strong cardio base to compete in rowing.

“It’s hard,” Vavpetic said. “That’s why we do long rows, 4×20 or 2×30, to build mental strength. It also helps with muscle memory.”

The quad team that reached nationals had the fifth-best overall time in qualifying but placed third in its heat and only the top two teams move on to the finals. Vavpetic said the race was difficult due to the tailwind and maintaining their speed.

They were rowing at a 34 or 35 strokes per minute when they should have been at 36 or 37.

“We weren’t able to keep up during the sprint,” Vavpetic said. “We should have increased our rate instead of maintaining it.”

Tags: Fox Chapel