This past weekend kicked off the first of two consecutive weeks of State Championship level rowing on the Occoquan with the Ted Phoenix Regatta, also known as the Freshman/Novice Virginia Scholastic Championships.  

It was another beautiful day on the Occoquan – a far cry from the cold, ice and wind that has kept our team off the water much of the spring.  In only their third competitions of the season, W.T. Woodson Crew freshman and novice rowers competed well against the top 27 private and public school teams across the Commonwealth of Virginia and the District of Columbia.  

The Women’s Novice Eight rowed solidly but failed to advance to the six boat finals, placing 9th out of 14 crews.  (Coxswain: Caroline Hoskins / Rowers: Kesem Solell-Knepler, Sophi Mills, Brigid Cryan, Kristin Wahlbeck, Elizabeth Field, Jamie Maurizi, Tova Welenson, and Paige Evans)

The Men’s Novice Eight also competed well, placing 10th out of 13 crews.  (Coxswain: Alexander Gertz / Rowers: Aaron Shurberg, Ben Epley, Daniel Revay, Aaron Freeman, Jung Won Lee, Sam Shear, Joshua Ackerman, and Sam Muras)

The Men’s Novice Four was 2nd in their morning heat and easily qualified for their six boat finals, where they placed 3rd overall and earned bronze medals!  (Coxswain: Sebastian Bushey / Rowers: Derek Wood, Jackson Schappert, Samuel Adams, and Saunders Riley)

In the two premier events of the day, both our Men’s and Women’s Freshman Eights rowed very well against some of the top ranked freshman crews in the country.    

The Women’s Freshman Eight rowed the 6th fastest time overall in the morning but drew a very tough heat, placing 4th and advancing to the second-level or Petite Finals.  In the Petite Finals, they dominated their heat to include a closing sprint that separated them from the field, finishing 7th overall in the state.  (Coxswain: Haley Cole / Rowers: Elizabeth Field, Anna Field, Rachel Knapp, Rowan Sprouse, Rose van der Horst, Reagan Smith, Kathryn Taheri, and Joelle Perry)

In perhaps the most exciting morning heat of the day, the Men’s Freshmen Eight was in 4th place with less than 500 meters to go.  They rallied with a fantastic closing sprint, passing Washington-Lee and claiming a spot in the Finals.   In the Finals, they rowed valiantly, ultimately finishing 6th overall in the state.  (Coxswain: John Fritzinger / Rowers: James Livingston, Allen Moran, Ryan Torgersen, Ryan Sarratt, Jason Rodriguez, Joshua Ackerman, Brandon Snyder, and Owen Collins)

The future of W.T. Woodson Crew is bright!  Please join us this Saturday, May 9th, at Sandy Run Regional Park on the Occoquan, where our Varsity boats will compete in the Virginia Scholastic Rowing Championship Regatta.  Pull for Woodson!

Smokey Jacobs Regatta Recap

The annual Smokey Jacobs Regatta was held at the Occoquan on Saturday, April 18th.  It was beautiful weather day for racing, which meant for the first time this season all of our boats got to race!  Once again, W.T. Woodson Crew competed very strongly against the top private and public schools in the Metro area.

The Women’s First 4 started off the day finishing 1st in their morning heat and 3rd overall in finals. (Hannah Haines, Hannah Fisher, Courtney Becker, Rita Bodrog, Coxswain: Erika Schneider)

The Men’s First 8 finished 1st in their morning heat and 5th overall in finals. (Adrian Michele, Val Jack, larry Cai, Joe Korn, Ryan Applin, Jack Ning, Joe Killion, Thomas Holtslander, Coxswain:  Ian Bushey)

The Men’s Second 8 had a very impressive day.  They finished 2nd in their morning heat, but dominated the afternoon final taking 1st place!  (Coxswain: Jax Ohashi; Rowers: Ewen Crunkhorn, John Dobrydney, James Magee, Adam Sami, Derek Wood, Jackson Schappert, Trevor von Christierson, Fin Merrill)

The Women’s Junior 4 finished 1st in their heat and 2nd overall, (Alex Schmidt, Rachel Hundley, Meryn Holtslander, Beth Zhao, Coxswain:  Sierra Cole) and the Men’s Junior 4 finished 2nd in their heat and 3rd overall. Mark Riesco, Jared Keen, Miles Knight, Griffin Adams, Coxswain:  Nico Marucchi)

Closing out the Varsity competition, the Women’s Lightweight 8 finished 3rd in their final. (Carolyn Wong, Katie Lam, Trini Hong, Jayoung Christner, Sara Chan, Sierra Boucher, Coryn Mayer, Pele Solell-Knepler, Coxswain: Gwen Cameron)

Due to the size of the regatta, freshman and novice boats were only able to compete in heats.

The Men’s Freshman 8 (Owen Collins, Aaron Freeman, Ryan Sarratt, Jason Rodriguez, Michael Boyle, Ryan Torgersen, Allen Moran, James Livingston, Coxswain:  John Fritzinger) and Women’s Freshman 8 (Joelle Perry, Kesem Solell-Knepler, Sophie Mills, Reagan Smith, Rowan Sprouse, Rachel Saez Knapp, Anna Field, Elizabeth Field, Coxswain:  Haley Cole),  both placed 3rd in their respective heats.

The Men’s Novice 8 (Sam Muras, Jaywoo Christner, Kevin Cronin, Jung Won Lee, Ben Epley, Brandon Snyder, Saunders Riley, Sam Adams, Coxswain: Alex Gertz) and Women’s Novice 4 (Jamie Maurizi, Paige Evans, Kristen Wahlbeck, Michelle Yu, Coxswain: Caroline Hoskins) placed 2nd, and the Men’s Novice 4 (Sebastian Bushey, Aaron Shurberg, Stuart Lowe, Joshua Ackerman, Coxswain: Alex Gertz) placed 4th in their respective heats.

Please join us this Saturday, April 25th, at Sandy Run Regional Park on the Occoquan, where W.T. Woodson Crew will compete in the Al Urquia Regatta.  Racing starts at 0900.  Pull for Woodson!

Official results are posted at the following link: http://vasra.org/uploads/20150418_Results.pdf

And, a Huge “HEY WOODSON!” Shout Out to all our AMAZING Grandstand Fans!  Parents, Teammates, siblings, friends, relatives:  Thank you for cheering boats on through heats and finals!!

This past weekend completed the second of two consecutive weeks of Virginia State Championship level rowing on the Occoquan with the Virginia Scholastic Rowing Association (VASRA) Championships.  Although the weather was threatening all day with intermittent showers, it was another great day for W.T. Woodson Crew with several historic finishes.  This was the most successful WTW Crew team performance in Virginia State Championship history!

The Men's Junior 4+ started off the day and was 5^th in their heat.  (Coxswain: Nico Marucchi; Rowers: Griffin Adams, Miles Knight, Min Ban, and Mark Reisco)

The Women's 2^nd Varsity 4+ also placed 5^th in their heat.  (Coxswain: Erika Schneider; Rowers: Beth Zhao, Katie Lam, Amanda Lee, and Amanda Becker)

The Men's 2^nd Varsity 8+ was 3^rd in their morning heat and qualified for finals, where they placed 4^th overall.  This is the best 2V8 finish for WTW in VASRA history.  (Coxswain: Jax Ohashi; Rowers: Alex Welenson, Andrew Greer, Adam Chen, Adam Sami, Val Jack, Grant Barnsback, Jacob Nelson, and Jacob Babb)

In the most grueling test of the day for WTW, our Women's 1st Varsity 4+ battled 21 other 1V4 crews through heats, semi-finals, and finals, where they ultimately placed 5^th overall in the finals and automatically qualified for a spot at the Scholastic Rowing Association of America (SRAA) Nationals!  (Coxswain: Kerry Baker; Rowers: Katie Wahlbeck, Erika Killion, Gail Crunkhorn, and Erin Hubbard)

In what is fast becoming a WTW tradition, for the second year in a row the Women's Junior 8+ easily won their heat and went on to win the Virginia State Championship finals by a wide margin!  Their outstanding performance automatically qualified them for SRAA Nationals!   (Coxswain(s): Maddie Henris and Jack Osborne; Rowers:  Abie Kolls, Rita Bodrog, Hannah Fisher, Hannah Haines, Coryn Mayer, Sloane Palmer, Pele Solell, and Sierra Cole)

In the premier Men’s race of the regatta, the Men’s 1^st Varsity 8+ easily advanced to finals where they finished 2^nd overall (only 1.5 seconds behind Washington, D.C. private school powerhouse St. Alban’s) and 1st among all Virginia boats.  This is the highest placing ever for WTW in the Men’s 1V8 category!  They too have automatically qualified for a spot at SRAA Nationals!   (Coxswain: Ian Bushey; Rowers: Grayson Bishop, Bret Wagner, Joe Killion, David Torgersen, Brandon Sagawinia, Lucas Battisti, Ryan Applin, and Thomas Holtslander)  

The team heads to Philadelphia, PA this week for the Stotesbury Cup Regatta, the largest high school regatta in the country with over 5000 rowers and 20,000 spectators.  Pull for Woodson!