A pair of local high school students and Santa Barbara Community Rowing Junior Racing Team members placed seventh in the nation at the 29th Annual USRowing Youth National Championships in Florida last weekend.
Jacie Dingman, 14, and Elsa Loya, 16, competed for four days at Nathan Benderson Park in Sarasota on their way to being named the seventh-fastest U17 women’s double team in the country.
There were a total of 4,000 athletes and 224 clubs competing in the Youth National Championships.
“This is a big achievement,” SB Community Rowing coach Gracie Barbara said. “Not only did these girls have to overcome some extremely fast competition, but they also had to figure out how to deal with the intense heat and humidity that defines this event every year.”
Dingman and Loya got out to a strong start on Thursday after finishing 7th of 25 boats in their time trial, setting up a race on Friday for a spot in the A Finals.
On Friday, the pairing came from behind in the final 300 meters of the race to place third in their heat and advance to the final day of competition on Sunday.
In the finals, Dingman and Loya upped their game. The duo got out to its fastest start of the year and held strong throughout the 2,000-meter race to take home seventh place.
“These two have shown how resilient they are the past few days,” Barbara said. “They practiced together only a few times in the weeks between regionals and the national championship.
“They were both sick at separate times and we weren’t able to row on the water for a few practices due to the wind, which is crucial in matching up and getting more in sync as teammates.”
Dingman and Loya were the first members of Santa Barbara Community Rowing to make it to the Youth National Championships.
However, they are looking to bounce back and finish even higher come next year’s championship.
“These girls work really well together,” Barbara said. “They are both hyper-aware of what’s going on around them and talk a lot in the boat as they go down the course.
“Having this experience down here will only help them figure out how to improve to come back faster next year.”