Five Norwalk River Rowing boats competed for national titles at the US Rowing Youth National Championships held in Sacramento California on June 13 – 15. The national championship was by invitation only, with a top finish in certain limited qualifying regattas required for an invitation. More than 1,800 athletes from 133 clubs and high school programs from 106 cities competed in just 18 events at the championships.
Norwalk River Rowing had two crews finish just shy of the medal stand, claiming fourth place in the nation in their events: the men’s lightweight pair and the men’s lightweight four plus coxswain. Fittingly, all of Norwalk River Rowing’s seniors who qualified for the national championship rowed in one of these two top-finishing boats. Seniors Taylor Stauffer and Alex Sedlack rowed the pair, while the lightweight four included seniors and co-captains James Koenigsberg and Joe Blake and senior Luke Goodwin, along with juniors Tanner Polo and Patrick Lyon. Seniors Koenigsberg and Blake also rowed a double that came in fifth in the B final.
Norwalk River Rowing’s quad finished ninth in the country. The quad was powered by juniors Greg Bauerfeld and Brian Helms and sophomores Kris Petreski and Liam McDonough. The quad moved up from fifth to third place in the B finals in the last 30 seconds of the race, beating the fourth place boat by less than a second. Sophomore Petreski also rowed a single to sixth place in the B final. With all of the members of the quad joining the single and one member of the lightweight four plus coxswain in returning to the team next year, we are looking forward to more success in the year to come.
