PHOTO AND STORY BY USROWING

Five crews earned spots on the 2023 U.S. Beach Sprint National Team Friday as racing concluded at the 2023 USRowing Beach Sprint National Team Trials at Belmont Veteran’s Memorial Pier in Long Beach, Calif.
 
The winners earned the right to race at the 2023 World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals scheduled for September 29 – October 1 in Barletta, Italy.
 
In the final of the junior men’s double sculls, Next Level Rowing’s Aidan Humbert and Luke Eward earned spots on the Beach Sprints National Team thanks to a 10-second victory over Unity Boat Club’s Caden Coleman and Isaiah Brooks. Next Level’s boat won the time trial by nearly 20 seconds before coming back to win the final in a 2:28.0. Coleman and Brooks finished in a 2:38.3.
 
“It was really exciting because my pair partner, Luke, was the one who was initially invited, and he was scrambling to find someone to go with him. I was not going to miss out on this opportunity,” Humber said. “I realized this is the way to make rowing fun. It’s a lot more fun than flat water, and it’s a way to make the sport grow. I really enjoy doing it even when it is stressful. It was definitely scary. The entry – I got my foot leg caught in the oar – and it was so scary seeing them pull ahead. Having that comfort knowing that my bow seat knew what he was doing, it gave me the confidence that I needed to just pull as hard as I could.”
 
In the final of the junior mixed double sculls, Next Level Rowing’s Annalie Duncomb and Malachi Anderson defeated Palm River Training Center’s Britt Wotovich and Noah Rodger by 10.5 seconds to win the final in a 2:22.8. Duncomb and Anderson won the time trial by more than eight seconds before going on to win the final. Anderson made his second Beach Sprint National Team yesterday when he won the junior men’s solo event, while Duncomb also made her second team. Duncomb won bronze in the junior women’s double sculls with Annelise Hahl at last year’s World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals.
 
“We were really excited about this one,” Duncomb said about the win in the mixed double. “We were really hoping for a good finish this year. We row really well together, so we were really excited to come here and give it another shot. I’m super excited. It’s my favorite thing in the whole world. Rowing is my life, but Beach Sprints is the most fun thing ever. I’m so excited to be going to Italy, especially surrounded by people I’ve become so close with.”
 
Duncomb came back just over an hour later to win the junior women’s double sculls with Hahl. Racing uncontested, the duo clocked a 2:36.8 to earn a trip to Italy. Hahl had already qualified for the team yesterday when she won the junior women’s solo event.
 
“We row really we together in the double, and we’re feeling really good about going to Italy in it,” Duncomb said. “I think it’s a really, really fast double, and we have a good shot at doing well there. We felt really good about it last year, and hopefully, we can place even better there this year.”
 
Next Level Rowing’s Christine Cavallo and Kory Rogers won the final of the open mixed double sculls by just under four seconds over teammates Cassidy Norton and Cameron Kumagai. Cavallo and Rogers finished with a time of 2:24.6. The duo posted the fastest time of the time trial by nearly 10 seconds and then defeated Brooke Downes and Mason Nothaft by more than 18 seconds in the semifinal. Cavallo won the open women’s solo event yesterday.
 
“Christine and I match up perfectly,” Rogers said. “I mean, the harmony is there. We just show up on race day, and it comes together perfectly. Full trust in each other, and everything is executed perfectly.”
 
Rogers came back 45 minutes later to stroke the winning open mixed quadruple sculls with coxswain. Rogers teamed up with coxswain Coral Kasden, Jeni Sorli, Alexa McAuliffe, and Christopher Bak to win the final by a little over six seconds. The crew won the time trial by just over three seconds before coming back to win the final in a 2:07.7 thanks to a strong turn and back half of the race.
 
“Peter (Choi) was so quick to the water, so I think that is all I was really thinking about,” Kasden said. “They had a half-seat on us until that buoy, but our boat just nailed that turn. Once we turned and got straight back to the beach, we just hauled it. It was all watts. I love the fact that a coxswain gets to be an athlete. I’ve been watching everybody do workouts, get sweaty, and I just have to sit there, so it’s cool to actually be part of that.”
 
Rogers, Sorli, and Bak were part of the bronze medal mixed quadruple sculls crew at the 2022 World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals.
 
Beach Sprint racing is contested in a run, row, run combination over a 250-meter, out-and-back buoyed course and uses a time trial and knock-out progression system.
 
Complete results are available on HereNow.com. Click here for photos throughout the event. Click here for more event information on the event.

PHOTO AND STORY COURTESY USROWING

Thirty-three boats from six clubs are scheduled to race this week at the 2023 USRowing Beach Sprint National Team Trials at Belmont Veteran’s Memorial Pier in Long Beach, Calif.
 
Trials will feature racing in nine events – four open and five junior – with the winners earning the right to race at the 2023 World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals scheduled for September 29 – October 1 in Barletta, Italy.
 
The open women’s solo event leads the way in entries with seven. Next Level Rowing’s Christine Cavallo, who won a bronze medal in the mixed quadruple sculls with coxswain at the 2021 World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals and is a seven-time national team member across all levels, won both the women’s solo and mixed double sculls events at the 2023 World Beach Games Continental Qualification Regatta earlier in the year to qualify for the World Beach Games this August in Bali, Indonesia. In Long Beach, Cavallo leads a field that includes Beach Sprint National Team veterans and Next Level Rowing teammates Elizabeth Hinley and Jeni Sorli, as well as Veronica Toro Arana, who represented Puerto Rico at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, and San Diego Rowing Club’s Alexandra Vallencey-Martinson, who raced on the 2021 U.S. Under 23 National Team.
 
Six scullers are entered in the open men’s solo event including Next Level Rowing’s Christopher Bak, who won the gold medal in the event at the 2022 World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals. In addition to a spot on the Beach Sprint Finals team, the winner of the event will have the opportunity to race the event at the 2023 World Beach Games. With Bak’s victory at last year’s World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals in Wales, the U.S. automatically qualified a spot for the World Beach Games in the event.
 
The open mixed double sculls event also has six boats entered including the combination of Cavallo and Kory Rogers, who won the World Beach Games Continental Qualification Regatta in April. A two-time Beach Sprint National Team member, Rogers was part of the bronze-medal winning mixed quadruple sculls with coxswain crew at the 2022 World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals. Hinley will be racing with Justin Stevens, who was part of the 2022 World Rowing Championships (flat-water) squad. Next Level Rowing’s Cassidy Norton, who has represented the U.S. in the women’s solo event the past two years at the World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals, is focusing on the double this year and will be racing with Cameron Kumagai in California.
 
Three crews are entered in the mixed quadruple sculls with coxswain. The Next Level Rowing crew of coxswain Coral Kasden, Rogers, Sorli, Alexa McAuliffe, and Bak includes three members of last year’s bronze-medal crew. Rogers, Sorli, and Bak reached the medal stand in Wales. The second Next Level Rowing entry includes coxswain Peter Choi, Julia Lonchar, Morgan Hummel, Michael Herman, and Stevens. Hummel and Choi were part of the bronze-medal crew last year.
 
Four scullers are entered in the junior men’s solo event including Next Level Rowing’s Malachi Anderson, who won a silver medal in the junior men’s double sculls at last year’s World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals. The junior men’s double sculls event has two entries, with all four rowers in the event trying to make their first Beach Sprints National Team.
 
The junior women’s solo event has two entries – Next Level Rowing’s Annelise Hahl and Palm River Training Center’s Britt Wotovich. Wotovich has represented the U.S. in the event at the last two World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals, finishing fourth in 2021. Hahl won bronze in the junior women’s double sculls last year with partner Annalie Duncomb, who rows out of Next Level Rowing. Hahl and Duncomb will be racing uncontested in the junior women’s double this week at the trials. Last week, Hahl won the women’s single sculls at the 2023 Under 19 National Team Trials, qualifying to race at the 2023 World Rowing Under 19 Championships this August in Paris.
 
The junior mixed double sculls event also has two entries. Duncomb will race with Anderson, while Wotovich will partner with Noah Rodger. Wotovich won silver in the event in 2021 and finished fourth last year at the world level.
 
Each event opens with a time trial, followed by a bracket-style, head-to-head racing format. Racing is contested in a run, row, run combination over a 250-meter, out-and-back buoyed course and uses a time trial and knock-out progression system.
 
Racing is slated to be held Thursday and Friday starting at 9 a.m. each day. Thursday’s racing includes the junior women’s solo, junior men’s solo, open women’s solo, and open men’s solo events. Friday’s racing includes the junior women’s double sculls, junior men’s double sculls, junior mixed double sculls, open mixed double sculls, and open mixed quadruple sculls with coxswain. Click here for more event information. Results will be available on HereNow.com.

PHOTO AND STORY COURTESY IRCA

The Intercollegiate Rowing Coaches Association is excited to announce the 2023 winners of our Individual and Team Specialty Awards, which honor several exceptional student-athletes, in addition to our well-deserving colleagues and fellow coaches. This year’s awards include:

Jack R. Robinson Inspiration Award – Given to an athlete or coach who has demonstrated the drive and motivation to overcome adversity or make a major impact on their team or community. This award is named in honor of Cornell Heavyweight Commodore and coxswain, Jack Robinson.

Leadership Award – Given to a coach or administrator who has shown great leadership and become a role model for men’s collegiate rowing.

Comeback Athlete of the Year – Given to an athlete who has shown significant improvement with their perseverance, determination, and dedication.

Comeback Team of the Year – Given to a team that has shown significant improvement with their perseverance, determination and dedication.

Novice Award – Given to an athlete (oarsman or coxswain) who started their rowing career in college and has become a top tier athlete within their program and in the sport of men’s collegiate rowing.

Scholar Athlete Award – Given to the athlete with the strongest combination of academic and athletic accomplishments as determined through a combination of GPA, major field of study, academic achievements, athletic performance, etc.

Coxswain of the Year – Given to a coxswain who has demonstrated great leadership and skill to motivate their team to compete at the best of their ability.

Nominations for each award were submitted by IRCA member coaches, along with their comments and recommendations, and were then voted on by the IRCA Board of Directors to select a winner.

In addition to the awards listed above, the IRCA is pleased to honor our colleagues with the following awards:

Div 1, Div 3, and Lightweight Coach of the Year – Nominated by and voted on by their peers, the Coach of the Year from each division represents the highest ideals of coaching in men’s collegiate rowing. They lead by example through demonstrated mentorship, integrity, performance, and love of the sport while upholding the values of the IRCA and men’s collegiate rowing.

Div 1, Div 3, and Lightweight Staff of the Year – Nominated by the head coaches and voted on by the membership, this award recognizes the outstanding work done by the assistant coach(es), volunteer coach(es), boatmen, etc. from each division in service to their team and in support of the head coach.

Any IRCA member coach could submit a nomination for Coach of the Year, whereas Staff of the Year nominations came from that program’s head coach or another head coach in their league. Comments/recommendations were submitted alongside the nomination before being voted on by the IRCA membership.

In addition to these awards, we’re excited to introduce “The Gladstone Award”, named in honor of Steve Gladstone who will also be its inaugural recipient. When we reflected on the impact that Steve has had on our sport, we knew we had to honor him in a manner befitting his many years of service to men’s collegiate rowing. Rather than signifying a “lifetime achievement”, The Gladstone Award recognizes “extraordinary, sustained contributions and stewardship to men’s collegiate rowing”, of which there is no better honoree than Steve.

PHOTO AND STORY COURTESY IRCA

The Intercollegiate Rowing Coaches Association is excited to announce our 2023 Empacher-IRCA Scholar Athletes. We are proud to offer our congratulations to these rowers and coxswains who have demonstrated what it truly means to be a “student-athlete”.

As previously announced this past fall, the IRCA welcomed Empacher Bootswerft as our official awards sponsor and we’re grateful for their partnership in recognizing the following athletes.

In order to be named a “scholar athlete,” rowers and coxswains must have met the following criteria:

• Athletes from all IRCA Member Schools are eligible
• Athletes must be in their second year or more of eligibility
• Athletes must have competed in their program’s top 3 boats during the current season or raced at the 2022 IRA Championship.
• Athletes must have, at least, a 3.50 cumulative GPA through fall semester.

With another year behind us, below are some numbers that further highlight these achievements.

• There were 638 rowers and coxswains who met the criteria set by our Awards & Polling Committee (detailed above), a 22% increase over last year’s 525 honorees. They represent 64 teams (55 heavyweight and 9 lightweight) from the 55 member programs.
• The average GPA was a 3.75 and for the third year in a row, the highest GPA was held by Oliver Diamond ‘23 of Wesleyan University with a 4.2.
• The highest number of scholar athletes from a single team came from the Georgetown University lightweights with 26, followed by the Harvard University heavyweights with 21. The highest number from one program came from Harvard University with 41 combined scholar-athletes from their heavyweight and lightweight teams, followed by Georgetown University with 35, Dartmouth College with 34, Yale University with 33, and MIT with 32.

The full list can be seen in the spreadsheet below, which you can also view here or view/download as a Google Sheet here.