The Mathews High School rowing team traveled last Saturday to the Sandy Run Regional Park in Occoquan, Virginia to participate in the Virginia Scholastic Rowing Association’s state championship regatta. The Blue Devils entered the women’s senior double and quad and the men’s senior single and junior four, netting a silver, two bronze and a fourth place finish respectively in their finals.
The race for the women’s double had Mandy Moran and Lillian Copeland first in their trial heat with the entry from Albemarle winning the other with the same time of 6:04.3. This was the last state regatta for Moran who has signed to row with the University of Alabama in the Fall. In the six boat final Mathews came second to Albemarle in the battle for gold as Hylton, Great Bridge, Western Albemarle and Fairfax finished over twenty seconds behind them.
The women’s quad final brought a bronze medal to Scarlet Johnson, Annalise Morse, Lily Baucom and Macy Johnson, finishing nine seconds off of Albemarle and W. Albemarle and eleven seconds ahead of Norfolk Academy with Granby and Justice finishing out the field. This was the last state final for Baucom who will be attending James Madison University in August.
The Mathews’ men’s team results brought a bronze finish to Cole Wheeler in the men’s single behind first and second Albemarle and W. Albemarle and fourteen seconds ahead of Potomac with Washington-Liberty finishing last. This was Wheeler's first race at Occoquan in the single. Wheeler is a senior who will be attending Liberty University next year.
Ben Stroud, Alex Slavkovic, Calvin Burton, Jaxon McDonald and coxswain Savannah Hartlove qualified for the finals in a field of twelve junior fours, placing fourth less than 5 seconds behind bronze finisher Great Bridge. Norfolk Academy and Lake Braddock were the top two finishers with James River and Independence finishing after Mathews.
Summarizing the day’s results Coach Jon Lothian commented “all of our entries have picked up speed throughout the season. The quad and the junior four had novices that did well in stepping up to state championship level racing and it is a great team accomplishment to make all their finals and medal in three of our four entries.” The crew will train this week to prepare for the Stotesbury Cup Championship regatta; which is the largest scholastic spring regatta in North America, held this Friday and Saturday in Philadelphia.