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Sunny Day of Racing for VIJC at Lake Steven’s Sculling Regatta By Karen Buhler Gale For one day it wasn’t spring, it was summer. Fortunately, for Vashon Island Junior Crew it was this past Saturday, April 12th, and the day of the Lake Stevens Sculling Regatta. A small, more informal regatta with a relaxed atmosphere, VIJC and local teams competed in the 1500-meter races beginning at 8:00 a.m. While the weather was stellar and didn’t provide a challenge, the team faced competition from strong teams like Lake Sammamish. They were also competing without their Head Coach, Lucas Ridinger, who was called away for Reserve Duty with the U.S. Marine Corp. Assistant Coach, Dan Packard with the help for former VIJC rover, Adam Beba, took on the logistics of organizing boats and rowers at a regatta for the first time. “It’s difficult sometimes because every day we have different rowers that are here or absent and it’s hard to get the right boats out onto the water. And we have Spring Break . The logistics were pretty tough, but I think everyone will do their best and we should do fine,” said Dan in the early hours of racing. For many of the rowers, it was their first time racing a particular race. Charlie Hoffman, a second-season rower raced in the Junior Men’s Novice 1x and placed first in his heat. Asked how he felt after the race: “I started out behind and was only using a half-stroke, but then stepped it up with full stroke. When I saw that I was passing the guy next to me I really pushed.” While Hoffman didn’t place in the finals, he said he still felt good about the day’s racing. Wade Hankin and Tim Hanson, both sophomores at VHS, also raced in singles in the Junior Men’s Lightweight 1X with Hankin finishing second in his heat. Will Kicinski also competed for the varsity in the Junior Men 1X. The Junior Women’s 2x with fourth-season rower, Lizzy Corliss, and sixth season rower Meaghan Connors, went on to finals placing third. “Our course was kind of crooked, but I didn’t look back a lot because it can really mess up your set. It felt pretty good. Not too intense. ” The Junior Men’s 2X with Thane Gill and Eli Hoyt also went onto finals and finished third. Fourth season rowers, Shelby Gale and Marja Haflinger, also raced in the Junior Women 2X, a race neither had ever competed in before. “It’s really hard to stay straight without a cox,” remarked Halfinger at the end of the race. In the last doubles race of the day, Novice rowers Brooke Pringle and Sophie Nespor were nervous, having suffered a capsize in practice on Wednesday. “I just don’t want to flip,” remarked Nespor immediately prior t the race. “We’ve had a challenge with steering,” added Pringle, who along with Nespor were racing their first double. The rowers and their team were happy to see them complete the race without incident. Racing two boats in the Junior Men’s 4X+ , Eli Hoyt, Thane Gill, Tim Hanson, Avio Brooklyn and cox Sage Doble finished third with Cody Turner, Will Kicinski, Charlie Hoffman, Michael Stoffer and first-time cox Katie Chale also racing. For the Junior Women 4X+, Lizzy Corliss, Alex Bosworth, Allison Saathoff, Meaghan Connors and cox Sage Doble, finished third in and the Junior Women’s Novice 4X+ of Brooke Pringle, Katie Chale, Sophie Nespor, Alex Bosworth, and cox Sage Doble earned a second place ribbon with a time of XXXX. Lizzy Corliss and Allison Saathoff also raced in the Women’s 1X and Women’s Lightweight 1X respectively. Parents Dolly Chale and Sheri Turner kept the team (and parents) fed and fueled at the team tent on the grassy lawn lakeside. Coach Packard was hot and tired at the end of his first regatta as a head coach. “You really miss having a second coach on a day like this. It’s a lot to keep track of—the boats, oars, which rowers in which boats and the schedule changes.” Did the day meet his expectations for himself and the team? “Yes, it did. Some things went better than others, but overall it went really well considering all the adjustments and changes we had to make. We really kept it together and did our races. It was good day.” VIJC Varsity races again at Brentwood College School, North America’s largest high school regatta, April 25-27th.
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