Oak Ridge Today

Local rowers earn invitation to 2016 USRowing Youth National Championships

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Sarah Kate Rogers and Clara Hay

Sarah Kate Rogers, right, of Oak Ridge and Clara Hay of Knoxville qualified for the 2016 USRowing Youth National Championships based on their medal-winning performances at the USRowing Southeast Youth Championships earlier this month. Rogers won a silver medal in the Women’s Youth Single (WY1x), and, rowing with Hay, won a bronze medal in the Women’s Youth Pair (WY2). (Photo by Shannon Moore)

 

By Jim Rogers

The Atomic Rowing Junior program at Oak Ridge Rowing Association has qualified two rowers for the 2016 USRowing Youth National Championships based on their medal-winning performances at the USRowing Southeast Youth Championships earlier this month. Sarah Kate Rogers of Oak Ridge won a silver medal in the Women’s Youth Single (WY1x) and, rowing with Clara Hay of Knoxville, won a bronze medal in the Women’s Youth Pair (WY2).

In the single event, Rogers—competing against young ladies from Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and Tennessee—progressed easily through the 2,000-meter heats before narrowly losing in the final to Mikayla Dutton of Inverness, Florida, a 2016 University of Tennessee signee.

In the Women’s Youth Pair final, Rogers and Hay earned bronze behind strong performances from experienced crews from Nashville and Jacksonville, Florida. [Read more…]

Local rower finishes 6th in nation at USRowing National Championships

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Sarah Kate Rogers at USRowing Nationals

Sarah Kate Rogers sprints to a second-place finish in the final 250 meters of the Women’s Youth 1x Semifinal at the 2015 USRowing Southeastern Youth Championships. (Photo courtesy J. Rogers)

 

By Jim Rogers

Oak Ridge’s Sarah Kate Rogers continued her memorable run to USRowing’s 2015 Youth Nationals, overcoming windy course conditions and formidable talent to reach the Grand Final of the Women’s Youth sculling singles (WY1x). The Youth Nationals were held June 12-14, in Bradenton, Florida.

Rogers qualified for the Youth Nationals as a result of her victory in the USRowing Southeastern Regionals in May.

Her path to the National Grand Finals was not without significant drama. In her opening heat, she tangled with lane buoys early in the race, and despite a ferocious comeback, finished a narrow fourth. This forced her to the repechage, a last chance to qualify for the semifinals. She responded to that challenge, moving through her opponents to grab the lead at the halfway point and holding off a furious challenge from Rachel Pierce of South Jersey Rowing Club. On short rest, Rogers then out-sprinted Shelby Johnson of Capital Rowing Club in the semifinal to finish second and qualify for the Grand Final. [Read more…]

Local rower earns invitation to USRowing Youth National Championships

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Sarah Kate Rogers and Marc DeRose

Rower Sarah Kate Rogers, who has been invited to compete in the USRowing Youth National Championships in June, is pictured above with coach Marc DeRose. (Photo by Suzanne Rogers)

 

By James H. Rogers

Oak Ridge’s Sarah Kate Rogers has earned an invitation to compete in the USRowing Youth National Championships by virtue of her first-place finish in the women’s youth sculling singles (WY1x) at the USRowing Southeast Youth Championships earlier this month. Competing against other young women from Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and Tennessee, she swept through the heats and won the 2,000-meter final in a time of 8:26.257, more than eight seconds ahead of any other sculler.

At next month’s national championship, which is from June 12-14 in Bradenton, Florida, Rogers will compete against as many as 27 other scullers through both heats and repechage for a coveted spot in the grand finals.

“The competition is incredibly tough,” Rogers said of the national event. “We all train and work as hard as we can to get to this point, and leave nothing on race day.”

Her competitors qualify from 11 separate national regions, and represent powerhouse rowing programs from the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Southwest, Midwest, and the Pacific Northwest. Rogers is unique in this regard, rowing as an unaffiliated rower under the watchful eyes of her coaching team, Shannon Moore and Marc DeRose. [Read more…]

Atomic Rowing Women’s Youth team wins regional gold, headed to nationals

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Atomic Rowing Women's Youth Team Practice

The regional women’s youth champions, Atomic Rowing, practice six days a week in preparation for the national championship races in Sacramento, California. (Photos by Sara Wise)

 

About two months ago, the girls of Atomic Rowing’s youth team came to Shannon Moore, their coach, and said they wanted to go to the national championship race. Now, they’ve won the gold medal at regionals and are set to race at youth nationals in Sacramento, California, on June 21.

Since winning gold at regionals, in Florida earlier this month, they have been practicing six days a week. Moore said the team of girls, ranging from eighth to 10th grades, are hungry for a national championship title.

“They’re just determined,” said Moore, who started coaching the team in October of last year. She has been coaching professionally since 1998 and was even the assistant coach for Ivy League rowing at Columbia University in New York City. Now though, she thinks she’s found her niche with the juniors team here in Oak Ridge. [Read more…]

Atomic Rowing qualifies at Southeast District Championships

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Atomic Rowing

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Local women’s varsity four headed to national rowing championship

Atomic Rowing had the home field advantage going into the 2013 USRowing Southeast Junior District Championships held May 4-5 on Melton Hill Lake in Oak Ridge. Atomic Rowing entered 18 entries into the two-day rain-soaked event that attracted 339 boats and 43 teams from across six states.

“Despite the rain, the racing was high quality throughout the weekend,” said USRowing Events Manager A.J. Dominique. “The Oak Ridge organizing committee and referee corps from the Southeast stepped up to the challenge presented by the weather and delivered a championship-level racing experience.” [Read more…]