Sports
Wayland-Weston Crew Performing Well at National Championships
Two Wayland-Weston crews are competing at the Youth National Championships in Oak Ridge, Tenn.
Update: Both Wayland-Weston boats rowed well Saturday, finishing second in their semi-final races. Both crews move on to the finals Sunday.
The Wayland-Weston crew team sent two boats to the Youth National Championships in Tennessee late this week. The girls’ lightweight eight and boys’ lightweight four advanced to nationals by finishing first and third, respectively, at the Northeast District qualifying regatta on May 20.
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The 2012 Youth National Championship Regatta is being contested on Melton Hill Lake in Oak Ridge, Tenn., just outside of Knoxville, from June 8 through June 12.
The regatta got under way June 8 with the preliminary heats. The top finisher in each heat advances directly to the semi-final round. All other boats must row in the repechage round Saturday to attempt to advance to the semi-finals.
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With mountains in the distance and a picturesque Melton Hill Lake, Oak Ridge provides an ideal venue for the event. The regatta kicked off on beautiful, sunny day on the lake.
The girls’ lightweight eight was the first Wayland-Weston boat to race in the preliminary heats. On the boat were coxswain Caroline Ayanian, stroke Elena Drews, Sophia Haley, Gabriela Purman, Rebecca Harris, Madison Kiefer, Hannah Brigham, Emma Conroy and Rachel Yan. The girls ran into some trouble at the start when Drews had an issue with her oar. But she was quickly able to recover and the boat got into their rhythm. The Wayland-Weston crew caught up to the other boats and gradually began to pull away from their competition.
The races at the National Championships are all 2,000 meters long. By the 1,500-meter mark the Wayland-Weston boat had gained open water between their boat and their closest competitor. The girls went on to win the race by more than ten seconds, earning a bye into the semi-finals.
The Wayland-Weston boys’ boat, a lightweight four, with coxswain Carly Skehan, stroke John Heinlein, Ian Delany, Jakob Buczek and Jason Nazarian, took to the water about an hour later. The boys, motivated by the top finish of their teammates, put in an impressive effort to win their heat by over four seconds.
With their top finishes in the preliminary rounds the Wayland-Weston crews get to skip the repechage rounds on Saturday morning. They will compete next in the semi-finals on Saturday afternoon.
