The Suns Crew Team made it to semifinals at the State Championships in Sarasota!
The Men's Varsity 4+ boat earned its way into the SEMI FINALS at the 2009 FSRA State Championship 2-day Regatta April 25-26th!! Ranked 9th in the State, that Men's Varsity 4+ boat was led by Jake Morse ('12) in the stroke seat, followed by Phillip Morel ('10), Josh Zimmer('11) and Jayson Garmizo ('10), with Tomas Rey ('12) as the coxswain! A BIG Congratulations to these men!
Also, advancing in the races was the Men's Varsity Lightweight 4+ boat, which qualified in its preliminary heat and raced in the next repechage race. This crew consisted of Zach Brown ('11), in the stroke seat, followed by Andrew Dolberg ('11), Sam Kizer ('11) and Shane Ward ("11), with Brandon Lafer ('14) as coxswain.
Our Women's Varsity 4+ boat did not place, but had their strongest showing yet, with only about 40 seconds separating them from earning a spot in the semi-final. Led by Sophie Soloff ('11) in the stroke seat, followed by Lauren Siff ('11), Raeme Weldon ('10), Googie Benden ('11), with Nicole Weinbrum ("11) as coxswain, their technique looked as good, as it has all year, and they have shown marked improvement for a boat that has been rowing together for a very short time.
Our Men's Novice 4+ boat also had a strong race, but unfortunately raced against hard competition and did not advance in the heats. It was led by Dylan Weitzman('12) stroke seat, Collier Bowling ('12), Gabriel Henriquez ('11), and Sam Simon ('12) withTomas Rey('12) as coxswain.
This is quite an impressive season finale for the Crew Team, which has been in existence for only six years! There were 37 High Schools racing 273 boats with 1,600 athletes competing in 26 different categories at this 2-day long Regatta in Sarasota.
Kudos to Coach Kim Marona who replaced the head coach in January, and to the all of the assistant coaches for all of their hard work! We will miss Lauren McElhenny who has been an assistant coach for the past year and a half. She is graduating and moving out of state.