Nationals Recap from Coach Mike, Link to New Photo Site

Our season culminated Saturday afternoon on the Cooper River in NJ. I’m very proud of the team’s performance this season, both on and off the water. I’m also grateful for the great support from our parents and the hard work of my fellow coaches.

All four boats that we took to Nationals represented Stuart and Virginia very well—the competition is composed of the top boats from the regional championship regattas from around the country. Our small boats (1X – Steven; 2X – Mackenzie/Hannah) raced in windy/choppy conditions on Friday morning. Both rowed well, with the 2X finishing 3rd in their heat and earning a slot in the Saturday Varsity 2X semifinal. Both quads (LW 4X – Vince/Sam/Noah/Markus and W 4X – Pasha/India/Erin/Isabelle) had late day semifinals on Friday. Again, both boats turned in good performances … the men got edged out of 3rd by 2.7 seconds, just missing the chance to progress; the women finished 3rd behind the 1st and 2nd place boats from Stotesbury, Conestoga and Western Albemarle, earning a spot in the Varsity Women’s Quad Final.

We started Saturday with our 2X girls putting it all out there, but not making it to the final … we ended the day with the Women’s Varsity Quad Final. This race had us out in lane 6, notionally in the last seed slot; however, undeterred the girls turned in a gutsy race finishing 4th, just missing the medal stand by 2.5 seconds—motivation for next year, with three of the four girls returning next season.

I applaud the hard work of all these crews.

See you at Spring Season Athletic Awards on Thursday, June 1.
Coach Mike

Link to new photo site: Painted Rocks