RE Crew raced at the USRowing Southeast Youth Championship Regatta in Sarasota, FL over the weekend of May 12th & 13th. Going up against the best crews from the 7-state Southeast region, RE fielded 6 crews with invitations to the prestigious USRowing Youth national Championships on offer in 3 events and the title of Regional Champion in all 6.

In the nationals qualifier events, the Women’s Youth Lightweight Double of Isa Ciocca and Ashley Nguyen narrowly missed advancing into the final from the time trial in a tough field. The Men’s Youth Quad of Matias Silva, Asher Lieberman, Albert Dreiling, and Rohit Yavagal, up against crews very much their senior in terms of rowing experience and age, put in a terrifically well-rowed heat to miss advancing into the finals but with a very good time. And coming off a superb spring campaign, the Men’s Youth Double of Andres Segrera and Will Mathes rowed a superb time trial to easily advance into the final and then put up a spirited effort to earn an invitation to nationals, but ultimately fell short and ended up 5th in the region.

Offering our very young team the opportunity to both push for invitations to nationals in the elite events AND gain competitive success and build for next year’s effort, RE also entered two crews into the Under 17 Women’s Single and Men’s U17 Quad events. These events offer a glimpse into the future and allows the younger crews within the region to compete against their true peers to see who will be the crews of the future in the elite qualifier events moving forward. In addition, RE entered a crew into the Exhibition Men’s Straight Four event to gain experience and help the region gain insight into the interest for an event that may be added to this and other regattas in the future.

Ms. Julia Buckner rowed a very comfortable heat to advance easily into the final of the Women’s U17 Single and then rowed a terrific race in the finals to place 4th in the region. Then in what was arguably the race of the day at the regatta, the Men’s U17 Quad of Aston Craft, Jackson Bryan, Felipe Campano, and Julien bacon, with only 4 practices together, put on a clinic of determination and rowing skill to overcome an early “crab” off the start line, worked into the lead against the quad from the regional and national powerhouse Sarasota Crew program, going narrowly behind Sarasota in the closing stages of the race - narrowly missing a comeback victory by just .047 of a second for a silver medal. Both RE Crews show the team can and will be a force to be reckoned with in future years. Unfortunately, lightning and heavy rain forced the cancellation of the Men’s Straight 4 with the crew already on the water and forced to return to the docks along with all the other crews in the event in what proved to be a bit of fun as the crews informally raced each other to safety.

With this regatta, RE Crew wrapped up its 2017-2018 competitive campaign with the notable exception of the Boy’s Junior Double who will competing at the Scholastic Rowing Association of America’s National Championship over the Memorial Day weekend in Pennsauken, NJ on the Cooper River. With a National Championship on the line, the best may be saved for last. A hearty congratulations to the team for a season and year well rowed and here is to looking at an even better 2018-2019 campaign to come.