Ten Alameda rowers brought home medals from the USRowing Southwest Youth Regional Championships, held on Lake Natoma near Sacramento over the weekend of May 1-3. The competition is the combined varsity rowing championship for California, Nevada, Arizona, and Utah. The top youth rowing programs from across the four states race head-to-head. To qualify a boat for Youth Nationals, a crew must beat the fastest boats from across the region.
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[2]The Alameda rowers’ wins helped the Oakland Strokes [3] record two historic gold medals and qualify 10 boats for the USRowing Youth National Championships that will be held in Sarasota, Florida in June. Six of the 10 Alameda athletes who earned medals will compete there.
Two Alameda rowers were in the gold-medal Men’s U17 8+, the club’s first-ever win in the event’s A Final—sophomore Hugh Mitchell of Alameda High in the bow seat, and sophomore Ethan Liang of Oakland Tech, also an Alamedan, at coxswain. The boat is coached by Sean Gibel.
Historic weekend
The Oakland Strokes qualified ten boats for Youth Nationals. For the first time in club history, the Women’s 3V will race at Nationals, joining the 1V and 2V on the trip to Nathan Benderson Park in Sarasota, Florida June 11 to 14.
The Oakland Strokes Women’s Varsity 8+, coached by Allison Ray, also won a gold medal, the club’s first regional V8+ title in 12 years.
“What I’m most proud of is that the entire team worked for these results,” said Allison Ray, the Oakland Strokes Director of Rowing. “Sending the 1V, 2V, and 3V to Nationals together is a first for our club, and it happened because everyone felt part of the work, whether they were in those top boats or not.”
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[5]Alameda rowers were top notch
Alameda rowers anchored multiple Oakland Strokes women’s boats that qualified for Nationals. Senior Mari Fukuda (three seat) and junior Ella Randecker (stroke) of Alameda High were in the Women’s 2V 8+, which took silver. Junior Annelise Howell of Maybeck High School, sophomore Adina Franz of Alameda High, and sophomore Demeter Hondrogen of Encinal High were in the Women’s 3V 8+, which finished fourth in the 2V A Final to qualify. Mari Fukuda also rowed bow in the Women’s Coxed Four, which took bronze to qualify.
Two Alameda rowers also brought home medals from the Women’s Youth 3V 8+ A Final—sophomore Ayumi Tsuji of Head-Royce School in the bow seat, and junior Georgia Van Every of Encinal High School in the six seat. Both rowed for an Oakland Strokes 4V crew that took silver in that event, earning regional medals (this race is not a Nationals-qualifying event).
Two more Alameda rowers brought home medals in men’s boats. Junior Fergus McWilton of Alameda High rowed in an Oakland Strokes Men’s Youth 4+ B crew that took silver, alongside Henry Tatara of Head-Royce at stroke and sophomore Vasili Chernikov of The Athenian School at coxswain. Sophomore Kaan Goktan of Alameda High rowed in the three seat of the Oakland Strokes Men’s 3V 8+, which took bronze in the Men’s Youth 3V 8+ A Final. Both boats earned regional medals but will not advance to Nationals.
Three Alameda seniors headed to college rowing
Three Alameda High seniors have committed to row in college in the fall. Mari Fukuda has committed to Cornell. Matthew Eggert, who rowed in the bronze-medal Oakland Strokes Men’s 3V 8+, has committed to Hobart. And Harrison Billington has committed to UC San Diego.
They join 12 Oakland Strokes classmates headed to college rowing programs across the country, including the entire Women’s V8+ senior class (six rowers headed to Penn, Yale, Tufts, Duke, Cal, and Boston University), plus Senan Brodie to Penn lightweights, Russell Arroyo to Columbia lightweights, Henry Tatara to Wesleyan, Liam Dinwiddie to Purdue, Lydia Hodges to UNC Chapel Hill, and Grifin Chamorro to the University of San Diego.
[6]Looking ahead
The Oakland Strokes are athletes who want to be challenged and compete at the highest level. The club has programs for middle schoolers and high schoolers, with no rowing experience required. Summer camps for middle and high school athletes and middle school year-round programs are open for registration now. The high school team also offers a free two-week trial in late August for athletes considering joining.
For 50 years on the Oakland Estuary, Oakland Strokes has sent rowers to the most competitive programs in the country, where rowing has opened doors at schools many of them might not otherwise have reached. Information about all programs and registration is available at oaklandstrokes.org [3].