Good evening Justice Rowing family,
Week Past
This past weekend we raced our largest number of boats all season at the Ryz Obuchowicz Regatta.
To start the day, the men’s double took third in their heat which qualified them for finals in the afternoon! Shortly after, the women’s double took 4th in their heat, missing finals, but looking very composed and smooth for a relatively new pairing. Both girls came away with positives. Next, the men’s junior quad was holding the qualifying third-place position going into the sprint, but a late crab gave West Springfield a chance to pull ahead. The boys took 4th and comfort in knowing that they are able to qualify for finals. They’ll be extra motivated this weekend to prove it. Later on in the day, the women’s junior double took 4th place in their final behind some very fast competition. We’re excited to see where this pairing can go towards the end of the season. Immediately following, the men’s first quad took 3rd place in their final in another full, six-boat race. In the same lane one race later, the women’s quad took 3rd behind familiar competition. Both novice fours followed later. The novice men took 4th in their flight and the women took 3rd in their best performances yet! Finally, in the men’s double final, our boys took “third” place finishing behind a perfect tie for second place between two other boats. The competition is certainly heating up!
Full results of the Ryz Obuchowicz Regatta can be found here.
The photo/video slideshow is here. Note: Videos do not autoplay. Click the arrow to watch.
Week Forward
This week is the Al Urquia Regatta, the final regatta before the final stretch of the season! This week’s lineups should look very similar to last week as we try to build consistency moving towards VSRCs the next two weekends. Events and lineups below:
| Event: | Lineup (Stern to Bow): coxswain* |
| Men’s Double (M-1-2x) | T. Wang, C. Brown Vasquez* |
| Women’s Double (W-1-2x) | C. Brogan, O. Findorff* |
| Women’s Junior Double (W-Jr-2x) | V. Peterson, G. Breed* |
| Men’s Quad (M-1-4x) | D. Coronado, N. Ward, K. Wilson, E. Sobol* |
| Men’s Junior Quad (M-Jr-4x) | P. Rice, L. Montfort, R. Bates, Z. Hardy* |
| Women’s Quad (W-1-4x) | S. Palacios, H. Ershadi, E. Buckhorn, S. Barrera* |
| Men’s Novice Eight (M-N-8+) | C. Hess, T. Trissell, J. Nowlin, A. White, E. Maloney, D. Caudillo, S. Blackadar, S. Schnieder, N. Kenzi* |
| Women’s Novice Four (W-N-4+) | H. Rosen, S. Ehmann-Jones, I. Brookes-Weiss, Z. Jouamai, A. Forrest* |
Please reference previous weeks’ emails if you have questions about when/how lineups are determined, and, as always, please reach out to your coaches if you have more questions.
States and Stotes and Nats!
The end is nigh! Well… not quite, but it’s coming up quick! It occurred to us coaches and board members that while the flow of the season and regattas is very familiar to us, it’s been years since we’ve had a “normal” season of regattas. This has led to scheduling uncertainty for new and old rowing families for which I want to sincerely apologize. With that in mind, I wanted to lay out the coming month of racing.
May 7th and 14th: States also known as Virginia Scholastic Rowing Championships (VSRCs) begins NEXT weekend (5/7) for novices and continues the following weekend (5/14) for varsity boats. States is the culmination of a season’s worth of work and progress for most crews on our team. While some varsity crews will continue to race after States, novices will end their competitive rowing for the season here. Novices are still expected to attend practices following States where we will start to develop sculling skills for next season. At VSRCs, crews race for medals and trophies rather than just ribbons. Most importantly, a podium finish (1st, 2nd, 3rd) at States can earn a crew a spot at Nationals (5/27 and 28). A first-place finish at VSRCs earns automatic qualification for Nationals, while 2nd or 3rd will require a petition from coaches, which includes that crew’s results throughout the season, to justify their entry.
May 20th and 21st: The Stotesbury Cup Regatta, also known as “Stotes,” is the largest high school regatta in the world held annually in Philadelphia PA on the historic Schuylkill River’s “Boathouse Row.” This is an invitational regatta where the coaches will determine which crews have earned an entry. Coaches consider many factors when making entries: attendance, consistency in lineup, performance at VSRCs and at regattas throughout the season, etc. Depending on the number of entries, we will either take our own trailer to transport our boats, or rent space on another team’s trailer for the trip. Stotes takes place on May 20th and 21st this year. Field trip forms and excused absences will be given to those who are invited/can attend. Day one of racing involves time trials (one boat racing down the course for time) which can then qualify crews for heats in the afternoon. Day two of racing involves semi-finals, finals, and petite finals.
May 27th and 28th: The Scholastic Rowing Association of America (SRAA) Championship, or “Nationals,” will be held on 5/27 and 5/28 this year on the Cooper River in Camden NJ. Should we have a crew qualify for Nationals (as explained above), they would follow a similar field trip/excused absence process for that weekend.
PLEASE NOTE: Even if your rower is finished with competitions after VSRCs, they should plan on continuing to come to practices as we start to transition towards technical work and training for next year. Some of the most productive practice sessions I ever had as a rower were when I knew I could focus entirely on experimenting and improving without stressing about competing.
Regatta Rower Logistics
Timing: On FRIDAY, coaches will let rowers know what time their race is and WHEN they should be at Sandy Run, usually 2 hours before the race to allow time for parking/drop off, warm-ups, boat adjustments, and race planning. All rowers (and those not competing but who want to watch) should be dropped off at Sandy Run. When you arrive tell the parking attendants that you are dropping off a rower and they will direct you to where you can go. Non-competing rowers are always welcome to cheer their teammates on! If you would like to stay at the regatta yourself, more info on parking is below.
Friday Night Pasta Dinners
Friday nights before each regatta, a team host serves pasta to the rowers. Please sign up to host here. Thanks to those who have already signed up to host. If we don’t have volunteers to host, the rowers won’t have a team dinner that night. An example menu is here. Plan for approximately 35 rowers. This is a rower’s only event—no parents. Drop off your rower Friday after practice and pick them up promptly at 9:00 so they can rest up before Saturday’s race!
This week’s dinner is hosted by Findorff/Telleria families. The address is in this week’s email.
Regatta Reminders
Important Regatta Reminders: There is no parking at Sandy Run Regional Park (unless you are a volunteer that day); you will need to park at South County High School (SC), 8501 Silverbrook Rd, Lorton, VA 22079, and take a shuttle ($10/round trip) to get to the regatta site. The ScCo Parking lot is about 15-20 minutes from Sandy Run. From the Sandy Run drop off it’s about a 15-20 minute walk down to the Grandstands where you can watch the race. NOTE: Spectators should plan to be at the SoCo parking lot at least 1 – 1 1/2 hours BEFORE the scheduled race time. Please plan for traffic, congestion, etc. which can cause delays. A concession stand and restrooms are available at the Grandstands. Regatta t-shirts ($20-25) will be available (contact Sandra Cortes Coronado to preorder, see email for instructions). For the most up-to-date information on Regattas/Sandy Run, follow @VASRAresults (on Twitter). Heatsheets are released for each regatta and may change as late as the day of; check the left-hand column on vasra.org homepage for a live link. Photos and slideshows are uploaded post-event at the Justice Rowing photo/video gallery.
UPDATE as of 3/31: Follow @VASRAStart to know when a race is “on the water” and which teams are in what lane. Information will be up-to-date including scratches and if teams do not start (or finish).
Call for VASRA Volunteers
Car Wash—May 22, 12:30–3:30 PM
Sign up today at SignUp Genius: car wash. Please spread the news to your neighborhood email groups, etc. Thank you to the Brown Vazquez’s for coordinating.
Thank you all for your support of our program and athletes!
Coach Rob Walker (he/him)
Special Ed. and English Teacher
Justice High School Rowing Team Head Coach
www.justicerowing.org
riwalker@fcps.edu
Twitter: @CoachWalker91
