May 2024
State Championships, the Main event of the year for all teams.
Statewide scholastic (high school) teams and large club teams, comprised of rowers from multiple high schools, attend this event with the goal of qualifying for national championships.
While top two scholastic teams qualify for Scholastic Rowing Association of America National Championships (SRAAs), clubs try themselves for a chance in USRowing Youth Invitationals.
It is a good thing that scholastic and club teams have this type of separation, because clubs often have a very unfair advantage. They select people based on performance rather than attendance to a certain school. On top of that they usually have a much higher budget than the scholastic teams. One club even had their own therapist giving massages at the race!
Back to this year’s competition, according to the event website there were 66 teams competing with 628 boats.
On day one the boys rowed small boats then on day two we rowed the big boats. So, on Saturday I raced in the singles event, and on Sunday the eights.
During this season, I only had the opportunity to practice rowing a single twice before the race, since our coach prefers to practice larger boats, like my eight. Single racing demands a different strategy, as well as good form and technique. These boats are lighter and have a narrow width to smoothly glide across the water’s surface, making them highly susceptible to capsizing if not balanced well while rowing. This is exactly what happened to the participant preceding me during the time trials. Despite him having enough power to overtake the boat that started before him, he capsized just 250 meters shy of the finish line.
Results:
- Category – Scholastic / Total Number of Entries
- Boys Varsity 1x – 12th / 27
- Boys Jr/U17 8+ – 2nd / 16
Berk @Nisky 