Santa Barbara Community Rowing turned in an impressive performance at the Southwest Youth Regionals last weekend in Gold River, CA.
Junior racing team members Jacie Dingman, 14, and Elsa Loya, 15, punched their tickets to the USRowing Youth National Championships June 6-9 in Sarasota, FL. They will compete in the U17 double.
“I’m incredibly proud of our small group for putting in the work these past eight months,” head coach Grace Barbara said. “These kids are rockstars and their gold medals are proof of their work ethic and patience. It’s easy to think these are individual efforts, but it’s the community we’ve built that directly impacted our performance.
“I could not be more excited about this program’s first time going to the national championship in Florida and I’m proud to be a part of their success.”
As a team, SB Community Rowing tallied a fourth-place finish in the finals to earn a spot at Youth Nationals in June.
Dingman stood out all weekend, capturing first in the U16 women’s single and winning the U16 double with Hadleigh Bolton.
“[Dingman] has been doing that all weekend, coming out patiently and powerful and then really turning it up in the sprint at the end,” Barbara said.
Meanwhile, Bolton and Loya also competed in the U16 and U17 women’s singles, respectively, finishing in 5th and 7th place.
On the boys side, sophomore Diego Stephenson advanced to the semifinals of the youth men’s singles amidst a competitive field of upperclassmen.
“We’ve got one month to perfect our racing plan and iron out any kinks from this past weekend,” Barbara said. “There are no guarantees at nationals and we can’t underestimate our opponents.”
Santa Barbara Community Rowing is the only rowing organization in Santa Barbara County, based at Cachuma Lake.
If you are interested in learning more about rowing, SBCR offers summer camps for youth ages 11+, as well as Learn to Row programs throughout the year for adults and kids. For more information visit https://www.rowsbc.org/