Jamestown, NC – The largest number of rowers ever assembled for an indoor rowing event in North Carolina gathered in the warehouse district in Jamestown on Saturday morning for the 124C Erg Sprints.
All up 131 rowers from 12 clubs across the state entered to race at the High Point Rowing Club hosted event and the depth of talent saw fierce competition among athletes of all ages.
Youth ergometer races opened the event, which saw Rylie Murphy win the girls J12 for High Point ahead of Audrey Corriere, Charlotte Curri, and Sidney Briggs. High Point Rowing Club’s success continued throughout the day, ultimately sweeping all the youth events from Belmont, Raleigh, LKN Indoor, Crossfit Vitality, Jordan Lake Crew, and some unaffiliated rowers.
Highlights of the youth races included a new 124C Erg Sprints record earned by High Point’s Aliute Udoka with the time of 7 minutes16 seconds. Aliute finished ahead of M Bhalla (7:35) and High Point’s Victoria Goldin, who also earned a personal best time of 7:46.6. Aliute is headed to Clemson University and Victoria is headed to the University of Louisville in the Fall.
On the boys side of racing, Keagan OConnell earned victory in the J12 750 meter race and then High Point rowers continued to win events with James Li (J13), George Corriere (J14), Govind Harish (J15), Charles York (J16), Mac Warwick (J17), Austin Young (Lightweight) and Adam Alt (J18).
Additional wins for the club came on the girls side from Molly Hilemn (J13), Ainsley Fox (J14), Junior Ognovich (J15), Maddie Mullins (J16), Emma Llyod (Lightweight), and Jaclyn Hronich (J18).
Racing then continued on to collegiate competition, which was a fierce series of duels between High Point University and Wake Forest University.
Emma Hudson earned the first collegiate contest in the women’s novice event with the winning time of 7 minutes 25.1 seconds. Hudson finished ahead of 12 other rowers from the two colleges.
HPU’s Molly Torres then picked up the win in the women’s collegiate lightweight race and HPU rowers won the men’s collegiate novice race (John Funchion), men’s collegiate varsity (Caleb Spegman), and men’s collegiate lightweight (Michael Marsh).
Wake Forest University narrowly avoided being swept on the day when Kendra Callwood stepped up to win the women’s collegiate varsity event.
Next up at 124C Erg Sprints was the Open and Masters (adult 21+) events. Shelli York quickly raised the roof for High Point Rowing Club, winning the 1,000 meter women’s (40-49) category with a personal best time of 3:56.8. High Point’s fortunes continued with Nancy Yohn winning the women’s (55-59) race, and Burton Whicker winning the men’s (60-69) category.
