Dallas, Texas - Dallas United Crew rowers competed in two regattas last weekend - the Texas Rowing Championships in Austin, TX and the Mercer Sprints in West Windsor, NJ.
TEXAS ROWING CHAMPIONSHIP – AUSTIN TEXAS
The DUC Novice crews comprised of first year middle school and high school rowers raced for their first Texas Rowing Championships last weekend in Austin, Texas. The 1000-meter event features a seven-lane, fully buoyed racecourse on Lady Bird Lake and takes place at Festival Beach Park. The state championships are the primer for the Regional Championships coming in May.
Congratulations to the two boy’s novice crews that won the coveted Texas State Championship Titles – DUC’s Boys Novice 8 and Boys Novice 4! Both crews earned the right to be called the “fastest boats in Texas” with convincing open water wins, 7.5 seconds ahead of 2nd place for the Novice 8 and 6.9 seconds ahead of 2nd place for the Novice 4.
Not only did our youth rowers bring home the hardware from Austin, DUC’s Masters Women’s 8 earned a bronze medal and John Fay, retired Army veteran, earned a bronze medal in the Adaptive race. John’s race was truly remarkable as he was only 1.53 minutes from the first place winner whom was an able-bodied adaptive rower!
Congratulations to all of our DUC rowers and coxswains that raced in the Texas Rowing Championships.
GOLD: TWO STATE CHAMPIONSHIP TITLES - Fastest Boats in Texas
Boys Novice 8+
Coxswain Topher Luzarraga, Jack Lawson, Dawson Rogers, Alex Singh, Westley Sturhan, Luke Schweizer, Douglass Garret and Trip Winans
Boys Novice 4+
Coxswain Topher Luzarraga, Jack Lawson, Dawson Rogers, Alex Singh, Trip Winans
BRONZE MEDALS
Masters Women’s 8+
Coxswain-Michelle Stowers. Meredith Noto, Jeannette Hernandez, Cathy Ranspot, Jill Odorizzi, Courtney Williams, Nan Miller, Erin Faust and Debbie Settle
Adaptive Single – 1X
John Fay, Retired Army Veteran
MERCER SPRINTS – WEST WINDSOR, NEW JERSEY
While the Novices were in Texas, DUC’s Varsity Girls and Boys traveled to New Jersey to race in the highly competitive The Mercer Lake Sprints/ISA Championship. The Regatta takes place on Mercer Lake located in West Windsor, NJ. Mercer Lake has hosted numerous regattas including five Olympic Rowing Team Trials, USRowing Selection Regattas, two NCAA Women's Rowing Championships and many more.
This regatta represented a great opportunity for DUC Athletes to compete against some of the top crews in the country outside of the Central Regional. Each crew raced in individual heats, and top crews landed a place in the finals. DUC’s hard work paid off this weekend as four crews advanced to the final rounds – three crews qualifying for the Grand Finals and one crew qualifying for the Petit Finals.
Congratulations to all of our DUC rowers and coxswains that raced in the Mercer Sprints.
GRAND FINALS RESULTS
4th Place – Boys Varsity 4x
Will Schweizer, Bryce Miltenberger, Andrew Schweizer, Connor Alexander
4th Place - Boys 2nd Varsity 4x
Luca Whittemore, Eliot Duessel, Tom Botsch, Kian Yank
6th Place Girls Varsity 8+
PETIT FINAL RESULTS
2nd Place – Boys Varsity 8
Henry Bolt, Anders Ekstrom, Kristoff Csaky, Nik Knapp, Anson Smith, Ben Genender, Anthony Wang, Hunter Adams and coxswain: Ava Craycroft
Next on the regatta schedule for DUC’s Youth Rowers is the Central Region Championships to be held May 5th in Oklahoma City, OK. This is the last race of the season and is the qualifier for the USRowing Nationals to be held later this summer.