Santa Barbara Community Rowing’s Jacie Dingman captured first place at the Women’s U17 1x at the USRowing Southwest Youth Championships last weekend at Lake Natoma in Gold River.
Dingman, a Santa Ynez High freshman, will now compete in the USRowing Youth National Championships in Florida next month.
In the final race on Sunday, Dingman beat out Utah Crew’s Audre Goodworth by eight seconds to claim first. This will be her second year at Nationals after placing seventh in the Women’s U17 2x with Elsa Loya.
“I knew she was going to rock it,” SBCR head coach Grace Barbara said. “She has that insatiable grit and determination in her and won’t let anyone stop her. She just doesn’t give up.
“The strategy in the finals was to come out fast in the first 500 meters, then just continue to claw the bow-ball forward inch by inch in the middle, and then go ballistic at the end, which Jacie loves to do. She executed the plan perfectly.”
Dingman and Loya also raced in the Women’s Youth 2x last weekend, finishing in fourth place to miss the finals by just one spot.
“The Youth 2x is a tough category with some very good rowers in it,” Barbara said. “So it was always going to be a tough race against some really talented competition.”
Diego Stephenson of Dunn School also turned in a strong performance in the Men’s Youth 1x, coming in fourth place in the semifinals on SAturday.
The Santa Barbara Community Rowing novices took their first trip to regionals, with the Men’s U15 coxed quad competing.
“They had a really great time trial,” Barbara said of the Men’s U15 coxed quad. “While they didn’t advance to the semifinals, they had a great time and were able to get a look at some of their best competition on the West Coast.
“They are such a great group of kids. They love each other so much and work together well and will only get better in the years to come.”
SBCR offers summer camps for youth ages 11+, as well as Learn to Row programs throughout the year for adults and kids. If you are interested in donating to the club, or learning more about rowing, please visit: https://www.rowsbc.org/