The 2,000-meter course at Lake Vancouver along the Columbia River near Portland, Oregon, runs roughly north to south, and the crowds gathered at the calm finish line were oblivious to the “north sea” conditions piling up at the start through the afternoons of last weekend’s Regional Rowing Championships.
Vashon’s junior crew raced well through early morning calm periods, as well as the challenging conditions, placing 16 boats to finals and sending four varsity boats with eight rowers on to Nationals at Mercer Lake near Princeton, New Jersey, the weekend of June 10 to 12.
The regional championships run a wide gamut of emotion from the disappointment of varsity boats that don’t qualify to move on, to the unbridled glee of novice rowers winning their first medals and cementing their commitment to the sport for years to come. In varsity events, Vashon’s rowers returned with one championship trophy, one silver and three bronze medals.
Virginia Miller was the winner of the lightweight women’s single event, rowing away from the field for an open water win. Rhea Enzian and Riley Lynch continued their strong year in the women’s pair with a second-place finish. The women’s lightweight double with senior Maddie McEachern, teamed with Miller, finished third. The men’s (seniors Patrick Hanson and Forrest Miller) and women’s (Katrina Heffernan and Rhiannon Simmonds) open weight doubles both also secured third-place finishes and a spot at Junior Nationals. The junior varsity men’s double with Rohin Petram and Seth Rosen capped Vashon’s medal tally with a third-place finish.
Four varsity boats, the lightweight men’s and women’s fours and eights, placed fourth against strong competition. It is the first time that Vashon has entered the lightweight eight competition, and the women’s eight missed nationals by just 1 second. For the second year in a row, the men’s lightweight four placed fourth, 10 seconds behind the leading boats that all finished within 2 seconds of each other. There is a US Rowing provision for boats that are close to qualifying for nationals to petition to go. Coach Richard Parr has filed such a petition for both the lightweight women’s eight and the lightweight men’s four with a decision expected later this week.
One of the unique events at the regional championships is the high school eight competition, where teams compete in both costume innovation and rowing. This year’s Vashon boats scored high in both categories. The men’s eight was decked out in matching, rainbow suspenders above the waist, which proved a little chilly in the winds and 2-foot high waves splashing over the rowers at the start. The women’s eight took top honors with each dressed as mini-Toms (for assistant coach Tom Kicinski). Kicinski — for whom a new rowing shell was named at the regatta as the “Major Tom” — is well known for his ball cap, beard and antique T-shirts that he wears at practice. Each of the girls replicated an old orange T-shirt with Hoagy Heaven hand lettered on it, wore beard face-paint with a moustache and a ball cap to capture the spirit of Kicinski for the race. Both of the high school eights placed second in their timed final and each was fourth overall out of a field of over a dozen entries.
Summing up the weekend Coach Richard Parr said the competition gets tougher every year, but Vashon’s young rowers did well.
“The whole team performed very well, making the finals in three-fourths of the events, and sending four (and maybe six) boats to nationals, which is still among the best result in the region. I am very proud of the efforts and looking forward to the future.”
— Pat Call is the father of a
junior rower.
