SARASOTA, FLA. JUNE 12: The Everett Rowing Association U-17 girls raced to 6th place in the USRowing Youth National Championships time trials, over-coming stormy Florida weather and advancing to the semi-finals scheduled for today.
The time trials were delayed by hot, humid conditions and temperatures in the low 90s, punctuated with thunderstorms, but when it was time to compete, the four rowers, Kayleigh Baker, Kiri Withington, Adeline Palmiter, Ruby Eagan-Heffernan and coxswain, Aurora O’Brien, finished 6th out of 23 teams in the national regatta.
From left, Kayleigh Baker, Kiri Withington,
Aurora O’Brien, Adeline Palmiter and Ruby Eagan-Heffernan.
(photo: Everett Rowing Association)
“It was a wild past couple days,” Everett Rowing Association Executive Director, Jon Campana, tells EverettPost.com, “with both their practice day (Wednesday) being canceled and their original time trial time (Thursday at 4:30 p.m. Eastern) being delayed due to weather. They ended up racing at 8:30 p.m. Eastern and were the 6th fastest boat in time trials.”
The Everett crew will move to the semi-finals today where they will compete against seven other boats for the top four spots to go to the A Finals on Saturday.
Campana adds that the 6th place finish exceeded expectations for the U-17 team, “It is a very nice surprise! So the Cinderella story here is they placed second in the (NW) regional competition (in May to qualify for this week’s national competition), but their time puts them in the mix with the first-place winners from each region.”
These are the top 8 teams in the time trial and where they placed in their regional qualifiers.
1. Greenwich Crew – (qualified by finishing in) 3rd place NE Regionals
2. Row New Jersey – 1st place Mid Atlantic Regionals
3. Whitemarsh Boat Club – 2nd place Mid Atlantic Regionals
4. Blair Academy Crew – 3rd place Mid Atlantic Regionals
5. St Andrew Rowing Club – 1st place SE Regionals
6. Everett Rowing Association – 2nd Place NW Regionals
7. Saugatuck Rowing – 1st place NE Regionals
8. Asheville Youth Rowing Association- 2nd place SE Regionals
Check back on EverettPost.com for further updates on the next stage of the USRowing Youth National Championships.
To read EverettPost.com’s prior story about the ERA U-17 girls qualifying for the national championship with several team members who are underclassmen, click here.