AJRA HAS BEST-EVER PERFORMANCE AT 2013 YOUTH NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

June 13th, 2013 Posted by Races & Regattas 0 thoughts on “AJRA HAS BEST-EVER PERFORMANCE AT 2013 YOUTH NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS”
AJRA VW lightweight 4+ places 4th in 2013 US Youth Nationals

AJRA VW lightweight 4+ places 4th in 2013 US Youth Nationals

•For the first-time ever, an AJRA boat– the Women’s Lightweight 4+– raced in the Grand Final, finishing 4th place in the nation.

•Two other AJRA boats finished in the Top 10 in the nation — the Women’s 4+ placed 8th and the Men’s Pair 10th.

•The Women’s Pair and the Men’ s Lightweight 4+ placed 13th and 18th nationally in their respective events.

•This was the first year that all AJRA boats at Youth Nationals qualified for racing for Finals by progressing in events over three days of highly competitive racing.

Congratulations to the rowers who represented AJRA at Youth Nationals.

AJRA had 19 rowers competing in five events at the 2013 USRowing Youth National Championships this past weekend in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Over 150 clubs from 30 states raced at Nationals, bringing the competition at the regatta to the highest level. In order to get to Nationals, AJRA rowers qualified a club-record number of boats through the Southeast Regional Championships. With such a successful spring season and after bringing home multiple regional titles, it was only fitting that our rowers continued their success this year at Nationals.

The highlight of the weekend was in the Women’s Lightweight 4+, with the entry from AJRA placing 4th in the Grand Final of the event. This is the first time any AJRA boat has ever qualified for the Grand Final at Nationals. With three seniors in the boat, the rowers made sure their last race was one to remember, and certainly set the bar high for next year’s squad.

The Women’s 4+ and Men’s 2- both qualified through semifinals for the Petite Finals, racing for places 7th – 12th. The Women’s 4+ came in 2nd in the final, with a placement of 8th overall, and the Men’s 2-placed 4th for an overall ranking of 10th in the nation, which is the highest placing finish for any AJRA men’s entry since the regatta expanded to its current format.

The Women’s 2- and Men’s Lightweight 4+ raced on Sunday in the C-level Finals, which meant each boat was racing for 13th – 18th. The Women’s 2- placed 13th by winning the C-final, and the Men’s Lightweight 4+ placed 18th, with 4 out of 6 boats in their race finishing within one second of each other. With these boats finishing in the C-level final, this also marks the first year that each AJRA boat has qualified for finals on Sunday. While 12 racers were seniors and ended their AJRA careers with a great regatta, the 7 rowers returning in the fall season will look to lead their teams to new heights.

Check out the Full results from 2013 Youth National Championships can be found here: