Once again, the Newport Rowing Club was strong at USRowing Youth National Championships, ended up with four nationally-ranked crews, including the Women’s Lightweight 4+ featuring, from left: Erin Mullen, Alyson Kerrigan, Julia Baumel and Leah Mayfield.
NEWPORT, Del. – Not even three years old, Newport Rowing Club is celebrating its third successful trip to the USRowing Youth National Championships.
In 2011, its first year of operation, NRC sent its Men’s Pair to Nationals, which finished sixth in the nation. The following year NRC sent 14 athletes, four of which were novice, or brand new, rowers with one athlete turning thirteen just two days before the regatta. And recently,19 NRC athletes qualified to compete at this year’s USRowing Youth National Championships. By mid-afternoon on June 9 when racing had wrapped-up at Melton Lake, in Oak Ridge, TN, Newport Rowing Club could claim four nationally ranked crews – Men’s Lightweight 4+ (8th), Men’s Heavy 4+ (15th), Women’s Pair (16th), and Women’s Lightweight 4+ (17th).
“I am very proud of how our athletes performed at Nationals,” Head Coach John Cohn said. “This year was our biggest group of athletes who qualified and competed. For some of our athletes it was a successful ending to a fulfilling high school rowing career while for our younger rowers it marked the beginning of a very promising and exciting competitive experience. Among our newest athletes who made the trip to Nationals, two were novices and one got her start in our summer camp just last summer.”
From left, Nick Malchione, Jake Weltz, Justin Best, Patrick Collins, and Jennifer Beauchamp compete in the Lightweight Mens 4+ event and are now ranked eighth in the nation.
As with every race there are always anomalies. Although the Heavy Men’s 4+ made the C Finals, their overall time ended up being Top 10.
“The C Final for the Heavy 4+s actually ended up being faster than the B, or Petite, Final,” Cohn explained. “Watching the race, you could see that each of the squads on any given day could have been a top contender. Even the announcer commented that the speed and quality of rowing in the C Final was impressive. By the end of the race, our Heavy 4+’s time was faster than four teams in the B Final and 1 team in the Grand Final.”
Representing Newport Rowing Club at USRowing’s 2013 Youth Nationals were:
Women’s 2
Rose Carr (Newark Charter 8th grade – Newark, DE resident)
Tara Carr (Conrad Schools of Science freshman- Newark, DE resident)
Lightweight Women’s 4+
Jennifer Collins (Unionville High School freshman – Chadds Ford, PA resident)
Leah Mayfield (Padua Academy sophomore – Wilmington DE resident)
Julia Baumel (Kennett High School junior, Women’s Varsity co-captain – Kennett Square, PA resident)
Alyson Kerrigan (Ursuline Academy junior – Wilmington DE resident)
Erin Mullen (Padua Academy senior – Wilmington DE resident)
Lightweight Men’s 4+
Jennifer Beauchamp (Unionville High School freshman – Chadds Ford, PA resident)
Nicholas Malchione (Salesianum School junior, Men’s Varsity co-captain – Landenberg, PA resident)
Jake Weltz (Unionville High School senior – Chadds Ford, PA resident)
Justin Best (Unionville High School sophomore – Kennett Square, PA resident)
Patrick Collins (Unionville High School senior – Chadds Ford, PA resident)
Heavy Men’s 4+
Maggie Simpson (Unionville High School senior – Kennett Square, PA resident)
Nathan Smith (Unionville High School senior, Men’s Varsity co-captain – Kennett Square, PA resident)
Michael Glaude (Salesianum School junior – Oxford, PA resident)
Phil Claudy (Salesianum School junior – Kennett Square, PA resident)
Joe Stockburger (Salesianum School junior – Wilmington DE resident)
From left, Nathan Smith of Unionville and Michael Glaude of Oxford get ready to compete.
“We’re very excited about the success at Newport Rowing Club,” says the club’s executive director, Susan Smith. “In less than three years we’ve sent more than thirty athletes onto national competition. Last year one of our athletes was chosen to represent the U.S. in world competition as a member of the U.S. Junior National Team, and this year three of our athletes along with our head coach have been invited to participate in the U.S. Junior National Team selection process.
Smith adds, “Last fall we had nine former athletes participating in college-level rowing programs, and this year one of our former athletes won an NCAA national championship! In this year’s graduating class alone we will send seven more athletes onto top college programs including University of California at Berkeley, Bucknell University, Temple, St. Joseph University, Drexel, University of Miami and Washington College…and we’re just getting started.”
For more information on the many programs at the Newport Rowing Club, check their website at http://www.newportrowingclub.org where you’ll find Learn-to-Row summer camps and Adult Intro-to-Row programs signing up now.
