Members of the Wakefield Warriors girls varsity eighth shell achieved a number of goals in reaching the finals of the national high-school crew regatta.
Wakefield finished fifth in a time of 5:04.29 at the Scholastic Rowing Association of America’s National Championship Regatta in New Jersey over the Memorial Day weekend. The winning time was 4:49.52 by Winter Park of Florida.
Another goal of the Wakefield eight — to perform better than Bethesda Chevy Chase of Maryland — also came to pass. Bethesda Chevy Chase placed sixth in the final in 5:06.11, making Wakefield the highest finishing boat in the final from the D.C. area.
Wakefield also was the only team in the final from Virginia.
“I’m happy and excited we executed to our capacity,” Wakefield coach Russell Topp told ARLnow. “We did as good as we were realistically hoping for. Making it to the final has been a longstanding goal, and now we’ve done that for two straight years.”
The Wakefield eight also finished fifth in last year’s national regatta.
The Virginia-state-champion Wakefield shell qualified for the national final by placing second in its opening heat in 5:02.025, then third in the semifinals in 5:00.8 during the two-day regatta on the Cooper River in Pennsauken, N.J.
Wakefield finished ahead of Walt Whitman High School, another D.C.-area team from Maryland, in the semifinal.
A week earlier, at the Stotesbury Cup Regatta in Philadelphia, Whitman finished third, fractions of a second ahead of fourth-place Wakefield in the heat race. The remainder of that regatta was cancelled because of weather issues.
“It was fun to go against Whitman and finish ahead of them in the semifinals and get some redemption from the previous week,” Topp said.
The Wakefield shell consisted of coxswain Riley Gaul and rowers Mira Meek, Amelie Przystawik, Anna Duall, Isabelle Young-Smith, Annabel Bender, Emory Loughry, Mia Kim and Siena-Kaya Nesmith.
“When nine people come together with one shared goal, it’s really incredible what we can accomplish,” Kim said. “We have always had the mindset to push ourselves to be the best we can be at each regatta. We can only do this and be successful as we have been because of how connected and supportive we are as a team.”
Also at nationals, the Wakefield boys second eight finished fifth as well. The shell was made up of coxswain Colin Cook and rowers Declan McCleaf, Jason Cook, Jonah Spiggle, Justin Pletcher Jr., Robert Melocik, Zavier Lordos, Korben Worster and Evan Yue.
