Space Coast Crew Qualifies 4 Boats for U.S. Rowing Youth Nationals Championships in Sarasota June 6

By  //  May 19, 2022

Women’s Varsity 4x finished in 1st place

The Women’s Varsity 4x was Space Coast Crew’s top boat of the weekend. They secured a gold medal by rowing down the 2,000-meter course in a time of 7:31. (Space Coast Crew image)

BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA – Space Coast Crew raced at the U.S. Rowing Southeast Regional Championships this month, hosted at the world-class venue Nathan Benderson Park in Sarasota.

Nathan Benderson Park is North America’s premier rowing course and regatta facility, where teams on the high school, collegiate, and Olympic levels go to compete.

Space Coast Crew competed against over 50 teams and more than 2,000 athletes from Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, South Carolina and North Carolina.

After two days of time trials, semifinals and finals, racing at a distance of 2,000 meters, Space Coast Crew had four boats advance to the U.S. Rowing National Championships, set to take place at Nathan Benderson Park June 6-12:

■ The Women’s Varsity 4x finished first.

■  The Men’s Varsity 8+ finished fourth.

■  The Men’s 2nd Varsity 8+ finished second.

■  The Men’s Under-16 8+ finished third.

The Women’s Varsity 4x was Space Coast Crew’s top boat of the weekend. They secured a gold medal by rowing down the 2,000-meter course in a time of 7:31.

The boat was composed of Megan Romesburg of Satellite High School; Elizabeth Marks of Melbourne High School; Caroline Hall of Satellite High School; and Katherine Braman, who is homeschooled.

“These young ladies ended up racing five times over two days and still came out on top of the field,” said Bryan Little, Space Coast Crew Director of Rowing and Head Coach.

Their coach, Jocelyn Little, said, “It is truly amazing to see these girls accomplish so much this year, all of their hard work and effort really showed and I cannot wait to see what they can do at Youth Nationals.”

This is the first women’s boat for Space Coast Crew to qualify for Youth Nationals since 2016.

The Men’s Varsity 8+ had to fight through some adversity to achieve their result. They had a breakage in their time trial so they were only able to grow by 7 rowers instead of 8. (Space Coast Crew image)

The Men’s Varsity 8+ had to fight through some adversity to achieve their result. They had a breakage in their time trial so they were only able to grow by seven rowers instead of eight.

“They really had to work extremely hard mentally to fight through some issues this weekend, but they really showed some tenacity to not let anything hold them back, ” said Coach Little.

During the final they battled hard to make the top four to advance to Youth Nationals, rowing a time of 6:17. The Men’s Varsity 8+ is composed of Jack Neville of Melbourne High School; Thomas Eastwood of West Shore; Duke Campbell of Melbourne High School; Luke Pair of Melbourne High School; Lincoln Hendricks of Merritt Island High School; James Draper of Merritt Island High School; Colin Schuck of Satellite High School; Peirro Gouin of West Shore; and coxswain Samuel Jones of Satellite High School.

The Men’s second Varsity 8+ had an extremely successful weekend, blazing through the time trials and finals to finish 2nd place overall with a time of 6:28.

The boat was comprised of Jacob Marano of West Shore; Zac Vaidic of West Shore; Griffin Cobb of Melbourne High School; Ethan Frye of Melbourne High School; Joseph Derenthal of West Shore; Chris Hall of Florida Virtual; Aaron Li of Viera High School; Austin Osborn of Florida Virtual; and coxswain Conor Knight of Holy Trinity.

Finally, proving that Space Coast Crew is a strong team at all levels, the Men’s Under-16 8+ boat battled to a 3rd place finish, coming in at a time of 6:57, within one second of a 2nd place finish. (Space Coast Crew image)

Finally, proving that Space Coast Crew is a strong team at all levels, the Men’s Under-16 8+ boat battled to a third-place finish, coming in at a time of 6:57, within one second of a second place finish.

The boat was composed of Jack Ruda of Satellite High School; Brolin Cozzolino of Kennedy Middle School; Nick Steen, Home School; Declan Conor of Holy Trinity; Tristen Olson of Satellite High School; Maxwell Kulbacki of Satellite High School; Logan Soper of Satellite High School, Christian Fogelberg of Melbourne High School; and Coxswain Karl Braman, Home School.

Another notable performance was the Women’s Under-17 2x which placed sixth overall. Sidney Norman of Satellite High School and Cailin Buchanan, Home School, raced hard against 17 other boats and performed incredibly well after racing five times over the two days of racing.

Space Coast Crew is a non-profit rowing team that is open to elementary school (5th and 6th grade), middle school and high school students in Brevard County.

If you’re interested in learning more about Space Coast Crew Summer Camp opportunities or interested in joining the team, contact Bryan Little at Sccheadcoach@gmail.com or check out SpaceCoastCrew.org.

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