Belmont Hill rowers win national title
David Fuller of Newton just completed his sophomore year at the Belmont Hill School, and he has already steered the school's boys' varsity four boat from his coxswain seat to a pair of US Rowing Youth National Championships.
Belmont Hill, which has won an unprecedented five straight New England crowns, earned a 6.8-second win over the Lakeside School from Seattle this month on Lake Harsha outside of Cincinnati.
"It's really quite a rush to see all the hard work that you put in during the season come down to one race," said the 5-foot-7-inch, 120-pound Fuller. "There's a great sense of camaraderie."
A year ago, Fuller shared the title with his brothers, twins Mark and Chris, who were members of Belmont Hill's first boat, so "that was quite a big difference." The Fuller twins rowed for Harvard's first freshmen heavyweight shell this year.
"We are definitely confident going into each race. But we can't be cocky; that would be our downfall. Winning gives you a target on your back."
Robbie Stone of Newton, a captain-elect for next year's squad, was a key rower in the bow as the school captured its third national championship in the past five years.
The other members of the winning boat were senior captain Kyle Gordon, who is headed to Harvard; senior captain Nick Whitehead, bound for the University of Pennsylvania; and junior Mike DiSanto of Winchester.
The highly successful program is directed by Watertown's Chris Richards, who just completed his 16th season as head coach.
Fuller and his teammates are preparing for a trip to England next month to compete in the prestigious Henley Royal Regatta.
"We're rowing as an eight, which will be a combo of our first and second varsity fours," said Fuller. "So we will have two to three weeks to get the different styles of the two boats to mesh into one."
While Belmont Hill carted home a national championship trophy, the Wayland-Weston crew team placed more boats ( three) on the medals stand than any other team and was the only squad to have six boats finish in the top 10 of their respective events.
Wayland-Weston's boys' lightweight four of Dan Skehan, Zach Romanov, Will Newell, Alex Newell, and cox Mike Smith earned a silver medal, a performance matched by the girls' lightweight four of Gillian Pennington, Marissa Reichel, Sarah Dale, Hilary Strong, and cox Rachael Mazzella. The heavyweight four of Nick Iodice, Tyler Sheffles, Kevin Zadeh, Dave Paresky, along with cox Jon Rubens, earned a bronze. Tom Bohrer (boys) and Will Stevens (girls) are the team's coaches.
Quick hits
Framingham native David Blatt, considered by some to be the best American-born basketball coach in Europe, accepted an offer last week to coach Efes Pilsen in the Turkish League after spending two seasons guiding Italian League power Benetton Treviso.
"This is a great and prestigious club. I am looking forward to the challenge," said the 47-year-old Blatt in an e-mail from his home in Tel Aviv. Blatt starred for "Smokey" Moresi at Framingham South and was a captain for Pete Carril at Princeton, graduating in 1981.
"The decision came down to a few different teams, and I chose Efes," said Blatt, adding that there was interest from the NBA, but nothing in which he felt that he would be "fulfilled."
Lesley Burkett of Watertown capped her four-year career as a member of the Radcliffe lightweight women's crew team with All-America honors. A senior cocaptain and government major at Harvard, Burkett was one of 10 rowers honored by the College Rowing Coaches Association. She sat in the seven seat of the varsity eight boat that finished fifth at the Eastern Sprints and fourth at the IRA National Championships. At Watertown High, Burkett ran track and cross country and rowed at the junior level.
Michelle Smith of Wayland and C.J. Yanofsky of Needham helped propel the Trinity women's lacrosse squad to a 12-5 mark this spring, tying the program record for most wins. The two juniors were named to the All- New England Small College Athletic Conference first team and earned All-Berkshire first-team and All-America honors from the Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association. Starting all 17 games in goal, Smith led the NESCAC with a .575 save percentage and finished second in total saves per game (12.15). The Wayland High grad is the program's first first-team All-America pick since 2005. A second-team All-America and graduate of The Rivers School in Weston, Yanofsky led the Bantams in goals (38) and assists (30).
Matt Karis of Southborough, a three-year starter in soccer and baseball at Noble and Greenough School in Dedham, is headed to Gettysburg College this fall, where he will play baseball as a pitcher and outfielder. This spring, Karis hit .385 (16-9) and finished with a 6-3 mark and a 2.40 earned run average. Last fall, he was a first-team Independent School League All-Star on the soccer pitch.
James Dolan, head coach of the Weymouth High baseball team the past five seasons, has been appointed as the skipper for Lasell College's new baseball program. Lasell has entered into an agreement with Brandeis to share its baseball facilities for practices and games. In return, Lasell will share its Charles River boathouse with the Brandeis crew program. Lasell will compete at the club level in baseball for one year before going varsity.
Craig Larson can be reached at clarson@globe.com or 508-820-4234. 