Row Ontario Announces 2022 Canada Summer Games Rowing Team
Row Ontario announced on Friday the athletes named to Ontario’s rowing team for the Niagara 2022 Canada Summer Games.
The Canada Summer Games rowing team will consist of 26 members, including 12 rowers on both the men’s and women’s side plus two coxswains. In April, Row Ontario announced the team would be coached by Mary Rao, John Ruscitti, and Dereck Schwandt. Row Ontario High Performance Manager Grant Boyd will serve as Team Manager.
“We are extremely excited to announce Ontario’s rowing team for the 2022 Canada Summer Games today,” said Chris Marshall, Row Ontario’s Director of Rowing. “We have 26 outstanding athletes who we can’t wait to see wearing the Team Ontario colours in just a few short weeks. I have no doubt they will perform to the best of their abilities and that the whole Ontario rowing community will be rooting for them as they race down the regatta course.”
The Team Ontario rowers are a squad loaded with talent and will head into the Canada Summer Games with a mixture of club, university and international rowing experience. On the women’s side, the team will be comprised of Stella Bittman (Notre Dame Rowing Club), Zoe Durcak (Leander Boat Club), Fiona Elliott (London Western Rowing Club), Malarie Jones (Notre Dame Rowing Club), Teagan Orth (St. Catharines Rowing Club), Ceilidh MacDonald (Kingston Rowing Club), Hailey Mercuri (Ridley Graduate Boat Club), Maya Meschkuleit (Don Rowing Club), Anna Pamenter (Don Rowing Club), Madeson Scott (Notre Dame Rowing Club), Julia Teixeira (Argonaut Rowing Club), and Cait Whittard (St. Catharines Rowing Club).
MacDonald, Mercuri, and Meschkuleit, were named to the RCA’s Under-23 World Championship team which will compete later this month, while Bittman, Jones, Pamenter, Scott and Whittard will represent Canada at the Under-19 World Rowing Championships. Teixeira recently competed for Canada at the CanAmMex International Regatta and claimed two gold medals in the women’s single and quad respectively. Elliott and Orth both competed last year at the U19 World Championships last year while Durcak helped the Brock Badgers women’s team earn a third overall finish at the 2021 OUA Championships and earned a silver medal in the women’s eight.
The men’s team will feature Kai Bartel (St. Catharines Rowing Club), Owen Bartel (St. Catharines Rowing Club), Adrian Breen (Don Rowing Club), Michael Ciepiela (St. Catharines Rowing Club), Payton Gauthier (Niagara Falls Rowing Club), Stephen Harris (Guelph Rowing Club), Aidan Hembruff (Ottawa Rowing Club), Shane Keagan (Ridley College), Lucas Maroney (Notre Dame Rowing Club), Kyle Nummi (Kingston Rowing Club), Alessio Perco (Notre Dame Rowing Club) and Niko Schramm (St. Catharines Rowing Club).
Like the women’s team, the men’s team has four rowers (Ciepela, Gauthier, Harris and Hembruff) scheduled to compete at the Under-23 World Rowing Championships and three (O. Bartel, Keagan, and Maroney) at the Under-19 World Rowing Championships, which will take place in Varese, Italy on July 25-31. Breen, who was a part of the Under-19 World Championship team last year, and Perco also competed at the CanAmMex International Regatta two weeks ago. K. Bartel (University of Victoria), Schramm (UBC), and Nummi (Queen’s University) are all seasoned rowers from strong Canadian university programs.
Rounding out the team are coxswains Riley Pisek (St. Catharines Rowing Club) and Georgia Greenwood (Don Rowing Club). The Ontario NextGen Performance Centre is also well-represented on the team as 14 of the 26 have trained at the Centre as centralized or regional athletes.
“We had many impressive athletes apply to be members of the team,” said Boyd. “Selecting this group was a very tough decision and one that we didn’t take lightly. We’d like to thank all the athletes who applied and wish them all the best in their rowing careers.”
The rowing events at the Niagara 2022 Canada Summer Games will take place from Aug. 17-21 in St. Catharines on the historic home of the Royal Canadian Henley Regatta, Martindale Pond.
The Canada Summer Games are a major sporting event in Canada and serve as a steppingstone for rowers and all athletes towards representing Canada in sporting events on the international stage. At previous editions of the event, Ontario athletes have been a dominant force and rowers have played a large role in Team Ontario’s overall success at the Games. In 2017, Ontario led the overall medal standings with 210 medals (86 gold, 65 silver, 59 bronze) while Ontario rowers brought home a total of ten medals (7 gold, 1 silver, 2 bronze). Their seven gold medals were the most in the nation.
For more information, visit 2022 Canada Summer Games.
Women’s Team
Stella Bittman – Notre Dame Rowing Club / ONGPC
Zoe Durcak – Leander Boat Club / Brock University / ONGPC
Fiona Elliott – London Western Rowing Club / Washington State University / ONGPC
Malarie Jones – Notre Dame Rowing Club
Ceilidh MacDonald – Kingston Rowing Club / Queens University
Hailey Mercuri – Ridley Graduate Boat Club / University of Iowa
Maya Meschkuleit – Don Rowing Club / Yale University
Teagan Orth – St. Catharines Rowing Club / University of Virginia / ONGPC
Anna Pamenter – Don Rowing Club / Brock University / ONGPC
Madeson Scott – Notre Dame Rowing Club / ONGPC
Julia Teixeira – Argonaut Rowing Club / ONGPC
Cait Whittard – St. Catharines Rowing Club / University of Tennessee / ONGPC
Men’s Team
Kai Bartel – St. Catharines Rowing Club / University of Victoria
Owen Bartel – St. Catharines Rowing Club
Adrian Breen – Don Rowing Club / ONGPC
Michael Ciepiela – St. Catharines Rowing Club / Brock University / ONGPC
Payton Gauthier – Niagara Falls Rowing Club / Syracuse University / ONGPC
Stephen Harris – Guelph Rowing Club / Brock University
Aidan Hembruff – Ottawa Rowing Club / University of Western Ontario / ONGPC
Shane Keagan – Ridley College / Yale University / ONGPC
Lucas Maroney – Notre Dame Rowing Club / ONGPC
Kyle Nummi – Kingston Rowing Club / Queens University
Niko Schramm – St. Catharines Rowing Club / University of British Columbia
Alessio Perco – Notre Dame Rowing Club
Coxswains
Riley Pisek – St. Catharines Rowing Club / Brock University
Georgia Greenwood – Don Rowing Club / Western University
