OARS to compete at 2022 Youth National Championships

The Orlando Area Rowing Society has five boats participating in the 2022 Youth National Championships June 9 to 12 at the Nathan Benderson Park in Sarasota. 

Coach Nick Hall has been training the boys high school team at OARS for two years. He believes the team’s ability to adapt played a huge part in the team’s success so far. 

The boys team has three different boats competing at nationals: the Men’s Youth 2-, the Men’s U16 8+ and the Men’s U17 4+. The girls team has two boats competing at nationals: the Women’s U16 8+ and the Women’s U17 8+. 

THE BOYS

Although the last few weeks lineups have been set, the order of the boys within the boat can change.

“Through practices, we’ve been trying different lineups,” he said. “When we switch lineups every day, we haven’t rowed the same lineup too many times, so they don’t get like, ‘Hey, this is my lineup; this is the only way I can row.’ No, we train them so they can row in any lineup in any given day and still perform.”

Prior to the qualifying race for nationals, the USRowing Southeast Youth Championships, the team struggled with some issues relating COVID-19. It had to cancel some practices as some athletes tested positive for the virus days prior to the May 14 to 15 competition. 

“We got our stuff together and kind of ended the season on a high note,” Hall said. 

OARS doubled the intensity of its practices to ensure its athletes are in their fittest shape for this weekend. 

“Adding the second practice can be very tough, but it helps them find their actual limit,” Hall said. “When you are doing one-a-day, you are training and you are tired every day, because you work hard, But when you add in that second practice, that’s an extra 90 minutes every day. You’ve got to dig deep when you are already tired and keep pushing, because when you are in the middle on the race and you are tired, you’ve got to find some more. So we kind of emulate that in training.”

Tyler Murphy, 15, and Ian Ballard, 17, have been competing in the Men’s Youth 2- category since they were paired in November for The Hootch regatta, which takes place in Tennessee. 

“They tried a bunch of different guys, and Ian and me just clicked,” Murphy said. “We actually ended up winning that race, we’ve just progressed from there and they never moved (us).” 

Throughout the entire season, the pair has won most of the races, only placing second in one of them and third during the qualifying race — a spot they locked in during the last 500 meters. 

The boys are feeling optimistic about racing their entry this weekend, hoping to get top 15 in the country. Because they don’t have a coxswain, they developed an effective communication method.

“We actually just talk the whole way down the course,” Ballard said. “It’s not very conventional or good, but it really keeps us motivated because it is a conversation, just with not as much talking and a lot more hurting.” 

This is the first year the Youth National Championships is offering races for the Men’s U16 8+ and Men’s U17 4+. OARS has boats competing in each.

“It’s going to be  really interesting for them to set a benchmark for themselves to track their progress and see how they can improve from right now to one year from now, when they raise up in an older category,” Hall said. 

Usually, for the regattas, boats categories are based on experience — novice, junior varsity and varsity. However, for Nationals, categories are based on age. For example, the U17 category can’t have a rower in the lineup who turns 17 this year.

“It makes a really level-playing field.” Hall said. “By adding this age category, it allows everyone to compete against kids their own age, and ultimately year over year, they’ll be racing the same kids.” 

Adrik Gruenenfelder will be racing in the U17 4+ boat. He explained that initially, the four was supposed to be entered into the U17 8+ category, but because of unforeseen circumstances, the boat got scratched and changed into the four. 

“We’ve definitely improved a lot, our technique has become better,” he said. “We’ve gotten more synchronized with one another, and that in itself has allowed us to get faster as a whole.” 

For the U16 8+, Alexander Matteson is excited not only to compete at nationals for the first time but also about the friends he has made. 

“At the beginning of the year, none of us knew each other,” he said. “It’s one of those things that can bring people together, throw them in an eight, and they start to become friends.” 

GIRL POWER

Coach Jon Michael Francis has been leading the girls high school team for the first time this year.

“Everyone is really excited and looking forward to next weekend,” he said. “It’s a younger group of girls that we are taking over there, so it’s kind of fun to see the progress happening everyday from the start of practice to the end of practice because there’s always improvement.” 

Thanks to the two-a-day practices, the girls have been able to work on their rowing technique a little more, especially since they’ve not rowed together before.

“We started off a little rocky, because everyone had different ways on how they row,” women’s U17 8+ coxswain Julia Parish said. “But then we got used to realizing that we have tow work together to be as fast as possible.” 

This year, competition will be tougher than last, because the boats who are competing at nationals actually had to qualify for the race. Last year, because of COVID-19, there were no qualifiers. 

Isabella Romain, who also rows in the Women’s U17 8+ is excited to see how her boat does this year. 

“It’s a little overwhelming because there are so many teams and so many trailers everywhere you look,” she said. “But it’s a really fun environment because you are there with your boat and you are there for a reason — to just race as hard as you can.” 

The goal for the boats is to compete in every step of the race — time trials, semifinals and finals. 

“Regardless of which final they make it into, we want to try to be into that top-12 position for both boats,” Francis said. “We will try to go into the A or B semifinal, and the A or B final.”

In rowing, the A final is the main final, where the top six boats with the fastest times compete for the top three places to earn a medal. The B final serves for the top six to 12 boats. 

“We have a good chance going into it,” Francis said. “It’s kind of tricky with the U16 and U17 boats, because you don’t know the speed of the other teams. But these girls have been stepping it up, and we are excited to see what we can do.” 

The girls’ mentality throughout their morning and afternoon practices has been to see every stroke as a reset. 

“If you have a bad stroke or bad piece, you have the next opportunity to reset it and rewrite it,” Francis said. “You can finish the day better than how you started it. We are trying to keep that mindset as much as possible.”