By Daniel Green for The Beachcomber

After a successful year rowing for California’s NCAA crew team, Vashon High School graduate Mia Croonquist   took two gold medals last weekend at the World Rowing Under 23 Championships in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. Just a year out of high school, she has now been a part of a U.S. national team four times.

Croonquist recently completed her first year at University of California at Berkeley, where she rowed for the California Golden Bears women’s crew team, making the varsity boat as a freshman, a rare occurrence in collegiate rowing. She was also named Newcomer of the Year by the Pac-12 conference.

Thereafter, Croonquist was invited to the U.S. National Selections Camp to try out for the national team. After a successful run at the tryouts, she was placed on the women’s U-23 team.

In Plovdiv, the 18-year-old competed in the both the women’s eight and women’s four boats.

As Croonquist and her father explained, the members of the eight and the four are generally considered to be the best rowers on the U.S. team.

But the young, sensational athletes knew they would face fierce competition in Plovdiv. Shortly before the race Croonquist commented on the intensity she anticipated.

“To win in Bulgaria is going to take our best racing and rowing that we have done all year,” Croonquist said. “There is no margin for error.”

She said that by the halfway point of a race, physical exhaustion sets in.

“We need our brains to kick in and our mental side to be able to convince us to keep going, but even harder and faster than the first half of the race,” she said.

Over 800 rowers from 51 countries rowed in the world championships. The various crew teams took part in 21 different events, hosted on a 2,300-meter artificial canal.

Croonquist emphasized how excited she was to arrive in Bulgaria after a long period of physically taxing tryouts. She felt enlivened by a change in scenery and the new, competitive atmosphere.

“To be around rowers of this caliber from countries all over the world and who love the sport as much as you do makes the experience that much better,” Croonquist said.

And by the end of the weekend, the Vashon Island Rowing Club’s (VIRC) most prodigious alumna had two more world championship medals to add to her collection, winning gold in both of her events.

Croonquist’s former coach, VIRC’s Richard Parr, underscored the significance of her accomplishments.

“It’s great to see Mia atop the podium in both the women’s four and eight at the under 23s,” he said. “Winning one gold medal at a world championship is pretty special. Winning two when you’re still only 18 is stunning.”

Parr also credited Croonquist’s drive for much of her success.

“Mia is strong and rows very well, but what gives her a huge advantage over the competition is her true dedication to the sport,” he noted, “and that includes her enthusiasm for training very hard in every session.”

Although she was impassioned to row last week, Croonquist was hesitant to predict the results of upcoming competitions, or the future of her athletic career for that matter.

“I just take it race by race and season by season. You don’t know what can pop up and cause a detour in your athletic career,” she explained. “And you can’t call it ahead of time because you never know how fast you are compared to others. Every year things change.”

— Daniel Green recently graduated from Vashon High School, where he wrote for The Riptide. Sarah Low also contributed to this article.