Health & Fitness
St. Louis Rowing Club Grabs GOLD at Midwest Regionals
The Saint Louis Rowing Club captured 5 Gold Medals at the Midwest Regionals. Three of those were in Qualifying races for US Rowing Nationals in June.
Midwest Championships are the pinnacle of crew racing in the region.
The Midwest Junior Rowing Championships were held at Harsha Lake in Bethel, Ohio (Cincinnati). Designated races qualified medal winners to go on to Nationals that will be held in June.
There were 404 entries from 31 clubs in 27 cities (10 states); 1270 rowers in total. It was a sprint event (2000 meters), typical of spring racing. For the St. Louis team, all eyes were on Cincinnati as they continually represent the greatest competition for the SLRC.
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St. Louis medaled in 16 of the 23 events that they entered and got 5 GOLDS!
Golds were earned in the Boy Varsity 4+, Girls Varsity 4+, Boys Lightweight Varsity 4+, Boys 2nd Varsity 8Girls 2nd Novice 4+. All included coxswains.
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The first 3 were Nationals qualifying races.
The Boys Varsity 4+:
Jimmy Francis (Ladue): 2013 will be his 3rd appearance at Nationals
Tom Kendrick (Ladue High 2013): Qualified for Nationals in 2012 in the first Varsity 8+. He will be rowing for Trinity in Connecticut in the fall.
Charlie Lebens (Whitfield): Will be racing at Nationals for the second time in June
BJFrancis (Ladue High 2013): Made the US team for World Rowing Junior Championships in 2012 and will be racing at Princeton.
Andrew Grant (a.k.a. “Squirrel” so named for his speed and maneuverability) (Parkway Central). He will be attending the National high performance camp this summer.
Boys Lightweight 4+ :
Brandon Fenton (Parkway Central)
Patrick Pappalardo (Chaminade)
John Duncan (Ladue High 2013)
Jeff Perkins (Ladue High 2013)
Leah Rothberg coxswain (Ladue High 2013)
Leah’s Boy’s Varsity 4+ got the Silver medal at the Head of the Hooch in November, 2012. The “Hooch,” is the second biggest regatta in the country and the coxswains have a big impact on the outcome. The curve in the river can be very challenging for less experienced coxswains.
Girls 1st Varsity 4:
Abby Lane-Incarnate: Abby was selected (1 of 3 coxswains in the entire US) to join the Rowing Junior National team in 2013.
Isabella Benduski-Ladue: She will be rowing for Harvard in the fall.
Paige Hibbard-Ladue
Maggie Berra-Visitation
Alex Watkins-Clayton
Rowing is the quintessential team sport. Individual strength and power has to be tempered to maximize fluidity of the boat overall. It is critical that the unit works as one and that the stroke, timing and rate are the same for all.