Competitive rowing is a sport that seems to be attracting curious teenagers in droves. Proof positive is the joint venture started by Vero Beach High School with the Indian River Rowing Club.
The spark was ignited two years ago when a small handful of VBHS girls expressed an interest in learning how to row. The team grew to 12 last year and the girls actually won a scholastic state championship in their novice season.
This year VBHS fielded a varsity rowing team consisting of 25 girls and 22 boys. A middle-school team was also formed with seven more participants.
Explosive may be an understatement for the growth that has occurred in the rowing program.
On April 30 and May 1 seven VBHS crews are scheduled to participate in the Florida Scholastic Rowing Association State Championship Regatta in Sarasota. The categories and lineups – always subject to minor changes – are as follows:
Girls Varsity Lightweight 8+: Grace Dooley, Mary Garavaglia, Katie Kolb, Stella Buckley, Olivia North, Iris Hollinger, Caroline Granitur, Emma Brownstein, Sarah Garavaglia.
Girls Junior Varsity 4+: Abby Johnson, Liz Cova, Casey Turner, Shaina Hughes, Shelby Roschach.
Girls Freshman 4+: Nicole Charest, Catie Castle, Regan Tadrowski, Grace Olsson, Juliana George
Girls Varsity Pair: Ellie Weibel, Graysen Pensch.
Boys Junior Varsity 8+: DR Johnson, Jakob Mathieu, Daniel Hiden, Austyn Reuter, Sam Deegan, Yager Willer, Maccoy Castle, Justin Mohney, Victoria Riddick.
Boys Varsity 4+: Randy Visser, Marcello Duong, Garrett Norman, Colin Dunne, Joaquin Ares.
Boys 2nd Varsity 4+: Jake McCoy, Max Hill, Daniel Borchardt, Patrick Colonna, JR Bressler.
These races are 1,500 meters and at stake for some is a mid-May trip to the Southeast Regionals in Georgia. The Girls Varsity Pair is the current odds-on favorite to make it there. Pensch, a senior, and Weibel, a sophomore, have already claimed a district championship and won the gold at the annual Brevard Championships.
Pensch was awarded a $25,000 scholarship from the Florida Institute of Technology and will continue rowing in college this fall.
The Girls Lightweight 8+ is aiming for a spot in the prestigious Stotesbury Cup National Regatta in Philadelphia May 20-21. This crew established its fastest time of the season with a second-place finish at districts. A week later they took home the gold at Brevard.
There are a lot of moving parts to this enterprise, and sometimes the details are hard to follow without a scorecard. A few things are clear, however. This sport is physically and mentally grueling for the serious-minded high-school athlete. The substantial payoff is great exercise, the potential for immediate success, travel, group camaraderie, scholarships and/or the chance to row in college.
Philip Gravinese coaches the girls team. Casey Dalal coaches the boys. Garry Marra is the director of the Indian River Rowing Club. VBHS provides the rowers and the IRRC has the equipment and facilities. The boats are launched from the water filtration plant grounds beneath the Alma Lee Loy Bridge. The crews practice on the Indian River Lagoon or hit the erg machines when the weather is uncooperative.
Senior Mary Garavaglia was in on the ground floor of VBHS rowing. She was the second person to commit to the sport as a sophomore and is captain of the girls team.
“We are getting ready and really excited for states,” Garavaglia said. “We’ve grown so much this year. We have a pretty good girls lightweight team and a pair of girls (Pensch and Weibel) that is going to be very successful. Our guys team is really getting up there, too.
“So all around we’re coming along and having a lot of success in all of our areas. I sit in the seventh seat right now in the lightweight 8. We are hoping to get past states and make it all the way to Stotesbury.
“I’m going to the University of Florida and I will likely join the rowing program there. I don’t really know what I have in store, but I hope to meet a group of girls, put together a fast boat, and compete in freshman events.”
Senior Marcello Duong joined up last year because, as he said, “a while back I used to do karate and that’s a super individual sport. I heard that a crew team was starting and I wanted to try an extreme team sport. I’m the varsity stroke on the varsity 4 boat. So far we won our east district and our coach thinks we can win at states.
“This has gone really well. I’ve made a lot of friends and had a lot of new experiences. I’ve learned to interact and communicate better with everybody.”
With travel expenses looming, fundraising efforts are underway. Anyone wishing to help out can email Gary Marra at info@indianriverrowingclub.com for details.