High Point, NC – High Point rowers are making final preparations on Oak Hollow Lake this week in advance of the upcoming USRowing Southeast Youth Championships taking place this weekend in Sarasota, Florida.
Held at Nathan Benderson Park in Sarasota, the USRowing Southeast Youth Championships will feature 1,406 athletes from 49 clubs racing in 416 boats. The regional championship is a must stop on the road to the national championships. Crews must finish in the top three in their regional to qualify for nationals, which will be held in Sacramento, Calif., in June.
High Point will be represented by eight boats of rowers in Sarasota – its largest fleet ever at the at the regional championships.
Opening racing for High Point will be scullers Junior Ognovich and Arte Blythe, who will compete in the Women’s single sculls event. Junior won the singles title at the North Carolina state championships in April and Arte was a member of the winning U17 quad sculls crew at the same event.
Following the single sculls events, Lindsay York and Molly Hilemn will be looking to defend the regional title in the women’s pairs event won by High Point in 2017 by Junior Ognovich and Maddie Mullins.
Next up Will Hundley and Harry Capizzi will race in the men’s pair event. Will and Harry have shown flashes of speed throughout the season indicating the possibility of a win. They will need to get into a solid rhythm early to compete with Triangle Rowing Club of Raleigh, whose rowers won the North Carolina Youth Championships in this event.
High Point’s Ainsley Fox and Charlotte Curri will then team up to race the women’s lightweight double sculls event. Ainsley and Charlotte topped the competition in the upper region in this event at the Dogwood Junior Championships two weeks ago and will see if their speed will be enough to take on the Florida competition for gold.
Ashley Walker and Emily Winberg will then race the women’s open weight double scull. The two were recently paired together for this event but have shown significant improvement in speed in practice.
In other boys racing Matthew Hronich and Jacob Messick will race for gold in the U17 boys double sculls. With 20 entries this may be the most competitive field at the regional championships. The two are no strangers to competition, however, after winning the same event at the Dogwood Junior Championships two weeks ago.
Rounding out the fleet for High Point will be Molly Hilemn, Arte Blythe. Kinkead Crotts, and Charlotte Curri, who will be racing in the women’s U17 quadscull event. High Point won bronze in this event in 2017.
