Hi Everyone - quick update and shout outs from today. We took 30 athletes and 16 are racing in finals tomorrow! There were some narrow misses to finals (but outstanding races).
The girls 2x of Linnea Darius and Gabriella Griffin finished a solid 3rd in the semi (top 2 to advance), but they had the 6th fastest time overall. These two with another week of practice together probably would have been medal contenders in the final.
Tony Madigan was fearless in the U17 1x (at only 14 years old) he challenged the time trial winner. Tony sat in second place most of the race. The race for 2nd was all the way down the course - he tried to push a little early and unfortunately missed top 2 by a deck (but he's got a few more years to win that category. Julie Davis and Ella Dowley both finished 3rd in their 1x single semi finals (top 2 to advance). Julie drifted over the finish line thinking the first place beep was her beep (big lesson learned - she was in 2nd place). Ella caught a massive over the head crab and started over 4 boat lengths down and walked back through the field for a solid 3rd place finish.
The girls 4- of LInnea Darius, Nora Hemsley, Megan Hedge, and Kira Moss had several US Rowing HP camp boats in there semi and unfortunately had the Penn AC boat come way over in there lane off the start - the girls recovered fairly quickly, but they were shook up and ended up finishing 4th.
The boys youth 4x of Henry Bedell, Max Blackstein, Decker Moy-Jacobs and Mason Sibley pushed the Maritime boat for about 500 meters and then settled to an easy second place finish. The final will be a barn burner for sure with 3 boats within a second of each fighting for the hardware.
Next up was the girls U17 4X - racing with Julie and Ella, Delilah Frey and Julia Dunn were out for redemption from the morning mishaps. The girls were down on OakNeck by open water going through the middle of the race (in 2nd place) and pushed Oak Neck all the way down the course - there is nice article on US Rowing here
The girls are in lane 2 and looking for some hardware with the second fastest semi final time.
The boys composite 8 with four Penn AC boys are in lane one of the final - this was a time trial straight to final event. Luke Hoffman, Colin Rizley, Ethan Puckett, and Sherif Nagub are excited to be racing with Penn AC! They are looking to best our friend down the river (TBC).
The last race of the day was exciting (but we had to wait due to equipment issues in another boat). The U19 girls 4x was fast off the start and stayed right with Row America Rye all the way down the course. The US Rowing HP camp boat made a push at the finish, but the Nora Hemsley, Gabriella Griffin, Tata Toure, and Kira Moss held them off for a 2nd place finish. The girls were in the fast semi final and are definitely in the hunt for a medal.
Full results can be found here
Looking forwrad to finals tomorrow am - live streaming can be found on youtube on the US Rowing channel.
Also, if you watch some racing - you will hear our own Maurice Scott and John Olbrys commentating!
Rowing Like Champions Today
Coach Carol, John, Jim, Barry, and Grigsby
ps - it takes the whole staff and the parents have been amazing feeding and transporting these kids!