Southwest Junior Regional Championships - the 2010 CJs (May 8-9)

Not to be outdone by the SATs and ACTs, the CAHSEE, the STAR, the AP exams or next month's plain-old finals, Berkeley High School's rowers tested themselves this weekend against many of the best boats in the country at the Southwest Junior Regional Championships on Lake Natoma. Facing clubs from Southern California and beyond, including the big ones from Newport, Long Beach and Marina, as well as Marin Rowing Association and the other northern California crews against whom it has competed week after week this spring, Berkeley High Crew put on two days of great and inspired performances. In all, five Berkeley boats made it through the qualifying heats and into the Grand Finals.

Going after the biggest prize — the chance to extend their season by medalling in the finals and qualifying for next month's Youth Nationals in Cincinnati — two of the varsity boats came heartbreakingly close, falling just seconds short of writing their ticket. In the novice and frosh events, BHS's younger rowers gave notice that they will be a force to reckon with in the years ahead.

Drawing 28 teams and thousands of athletes and fans from Humboldt, CA to Tempe, AZ, this year's "CJs" — a nickname surviving from earlier days, the "C" standing for California — comprised 33 separate events, including 67 qualifying heats and 33 finals over two days. Sun turned to wind, then rain, during the course of the weekend, yet the athletes from all the teams persevered, keeping their edge against their peers. The southwest region has become arguably the most competitive in the nation in junior rowing, and the action on the waters of the American River this weekend proved the point.

The men's novice quads (4x+) rowed first on Saturday morning, the top two boats in each heat advancing to the finals later in the day. Berkeley High Crew's B-boat finished fourth in its qualifying heat against the A-boats of the Tempe, Marin and Marina clubs; BHS's A-boat took third place in the next heat, three seconds off the pace of second place Humboldt Bay. These Jacket novices are all freshman; the average age of each boat was a year less than that of Humboldt and of the eventual champion, Long Beach, and two years younger than Marina. Congratulations to A-boat rowers Oliver Bartan (coxswain), John Clara, Lucas Bell, Haniel Roland-Holst and Kevin Meador; and B-boat members Asher Bergtraun (cox), Morgan Clark, Maceo Martinez, Marcel Ramos and Nick Bielak.

The next event for BHS Crew was the women's frosh 8+. Berkeley's B boat rowed well, but couldn't match Saint Ignatius, NorCal, Pacific Rowing or Marina, coming in fifth. The A-boat finished its heat with the fourth best time among all the frosh 8s, taking third behind Marin and Long Beach. By the rules of the competition, BHS was out of the finals: just the top two finishers in each heat move on, unless a lower finisher clocks a faster time than all the boats in the other two heats. Only SI bettered the Jacket A-boat in the other heats. Congratulations to A-boat members Ariella Levitch (coxswain), Ruby Moore-Bloom, Elinor Holland, Cassidy Villeneuve, Ava Miller-Lewis, Madison Hibbs, Eden Teller, Delia Werner Bills and Paisley Sato,

and B-boat rowers Olive Fontaine (cox), Anastasia Magana, Gina Gonzalez-Roundey, Marina Khamhaengwong, Aisha Eisenberg, Anna Remler, Odett Zvekanovics, Caroline Pearson and Luisa Pio.

The women's novice quad (4x+) — Lillian Farnkopf (cox), Kiara Grey, Rosalie Romick, Geneva DeBlasi and Monica Kuzdovitch — took third in its qualifying heat, falling to eventual bronze-medal winner California Yacht Club.

Then, at noon, the men's frosh 8+ broke through, landing a spot in the final. Cox Kieran Nageotte and rowers John Clara, Sam Marston, Lucas Bell, Morgan Clark, Haniel Roland-Holst, Nick Bielak, Ari Bolton and Otto James raced to a 06:55:53 finish, turning back a strong charge by the Oakland Strokes boat that looked with 500 meters to go as if it would overtake Berkeley High Crew for the second qualifying spot. A place in the finals and a hard-fought win over the Strokes — it was a good moment for Berkeley High.

Berkeley High Crew's premiere boat this year has been its men's lightweight 4+. Coxswain Evan Cohen and rowers Zander Morgan, Sam Shaw, Daniel Remler and
Graeme Horton have been powering this boat to wins all spring long. Their preparations for this year's CJs began in earnest last summer, with a regimen of erging, weight-training and running fire trails and stadium steps alternating with work outs on the water. Evan, Zander, Sam and Graeme are all seniors; their years on BHS Crew form a link to the last Berkeley High boat to go to Nationals. No matter the odds they faced, these boys were gunning to return to Cincinnati.

There were two men's lightweight 4+ qualifying heats, with the top three boats in each moving to the finals. Berkeley finished a comfortable third place in its heat, within seconds of Newport and Marina — two southern California powerhouses that the Berkeley rowers had not yet seen this year. Each was putting out enough energy to qualify, but saving its best for the finals later in the afternoon.

The women's lightweight 4+ came next, and teammates and fans along the shore were hoping to see this boat ride the tide of the previous two races to a berth in the finals. The women — senior Hannah McLester, junior Juliette Grodzins (cox), sophomore women's co-captain Yael Levin and sophomores Emma Goodfield and Acacia Masri —

rowed well, but this year simply couldn't compete with the older varsity women from the other clubs. The Los Gatos lightweight 4+ that won the heat, and eventually took silver, averaged two years more in age than the Berkeley boat; most of the other crews, including gold-winning Long Beach, averaged one year more. Next year's returning juniors will match up more evenly in age. Their prospects are exciting.

In mid-afternoon, the qualifying heats gave way to the first set of finals. Berkeley had two men's boats — the frosh 8+ and the lightweight 4+ — in the running.

The hopes of the frosh 8+ were dashed almost immediately by equipment failure. Within the first 500 meters of their final, the boat's skeg broke, its connecting bolts sheared. The skeg is the extension of the keel of the shell on which the rudder mounts; without it, the cox can't steer the boat. The damage brougnt a frustrating end to these young rowers' first championship quest.

The lightweight 4+ battled the entire 2000 meters of it final, in the fray with Newport, Marina and Long Beach. At the end, they finished within nine seconds of gold-medal winning Newport, losing the bronze medal to Long Beach by just two seconds. Dreams were shattered in those two seconds, the time it might take to, say, ... read this comparison.

At the same time, Berkeley had proven itself to be the premiere lightweight 4+ in northern California this year, and these athletes, deserving of a place among the elite high school rowers in the nation.

Qualifying heats continued into the evening on Saturday, with races by the women's varsity 4+ and the men's lightweight doubles (2x-). Sophomore Dierdre Burke (cox), Hannah McLester, sophomore Signe Henderson, sophomore Olivia Kern and junior women's co-captain Anna-Linnea Rødegärd rowed valiantly in the varsity 4, even if they were outmatched by the other boats.

In this case, performance was more telling than place in standings: by finishing half a minute behind heat winner Marin, the Jackets shaved nearly seven seconds off the difference between BHS and Marin in their previous head-to-head competition, also on Lake Natoma, just two months earlier. Similarly, the men's A & B pairs both put up good numbers in their event. Junior Jason Bowers and senior Felix Meier placed third, just one spot away from advancing.

B boat Julian Jaffe and Elliot Smith, junior and sophomore, respectively, placed sixth, finishing ahead of the only other B boat in the heat.

The returning rowers can look forward to good things next year.

Racing picked up again on Sunday morning with a stiff wind blowing across a cloudy sky. The men's open-weight double (2x-) led off the day for Berkeley High Crew. The BHS double featured men's senior co-captains Sam Shaw and Andre Waib Briscoe. These two raced to a comfortable second place finish, winning a berth in the finals Sunday afternoon.

The women's lightweight 8+ rowed to a fourth place finish in its heat, a good showing by a boat heavily weighted to sophomores and freshwomen. Senior rowers Hannah McLester and Neha Seelam took their last turn at the oars alongside cox Hannah Lukanuski and rowers Yael Levin, Emma Goodfield, Acacia Masri, Ava Miller-Lewis, Delia Werner Bills and Paisley Sato — a boatful of promise for next year and beyond.

The uncoxed women's quad (4x-) — Kyle Daniels, Signe Henderson, Kate Carlin and Emma Lutz — rowed well, too, but found itself, like many of the women's boats, matched against older, stronger boats.

Zander Morgan and Graeme Horton powered the men's pair (2-) for BHS Crew in the next event. Like Sam in the double, Zander and Graeme were seeking to rebound from the sting of missing Nationals in Saturday's lightweight 4 final. (Unlike the double — or 2x — rowers in a pair sweep row, rather than scull, each handling one oar.) Zander and Graeme had been preparing for this event since last summer, when they first rowed in a pair together. The work paid off as they easily qualified for the finals with a strong second place finish.

Soon afterwards, the last two members of the lightweight 4 had their chance to get over Saturday's disappointment. Cox Evan Cohen and stroke Daniel Remler led the Berkeley lightweight 8+, backed by Julian Jaffe, Haniel Roland-Holst, Lucas Bell, John Clara, Elliot Smith, Christopher O`Meara and Jason Bowers. This boat, like the women's lightweight 8, included a good number of sophomore and frosh rowers. Needing to finish third or above to qualify, the young team fell just five seconds short, ending up in fourth place. For seniors Evan and Chris, this would be their last BHS race. For the others, nearly making the finals bodes well for the prospect of boating a competitive lightweight 8 next year.

Berkeley High Crew had two boats in the women's double (2x-). Anna-Linnea Rødegärd and women's co-captain Djuna Elkan, in the Berkeley A boat, sculled to a sixth-place finish in their heat. Against a tough line-up, the rowers could take solace in beating any boat, especially rival Marin. For senior Djuna, it was her last race for BHS.

Kyle Daniels and Emma Lutz, in the B boat just two hours after racing in the quad, found themselves yet again going up against rowers one and two years older than themselves. Against these stronger rowers, the Berkeley duo were unable to qualify for the finals. What a frustrating morning it must have been for them. And it wasn't yet eleven o'clock!

The last qualifying heats of the day were for the men's quad (4x-). Seniors Felix Meier, Andre Waib Briscoe and Sam Shaw were joined by sophomore Ian Pengra in the A boat; sophomore Brendan Gill sculled alongside Jason Bowers, Julian Jaffe and Elliot Smith in the B boat. The A boat edged Tempe by three seconds, landing a place in the finals. The B boat rowed well, but didn't qualify in its heat.

Rain loomed as the finals began. Over the next couple of hours, showers would come and go, with spectators huddling under tents that had the day before provided cover from the sun.

The first Berkeley boat to race was the men's pair (2-). Marin's A and B pairs rowed to a dominating 1-2 finish. The battle for the bronze, and the third spot at Nationals, came down once more to Long Beach and Berkeley. Zander and Graeme gave all they could, trying to pull even, but the Long Beach pair was a boat-length faster, edging the Berkeley rowers by four seconds.

The men's double (2x-) was the next Berkeley boat to go. The Humboldt boat gave Newport a run for first place in this race; Stanford and the California Sculling Team followed in third and fourth, ahead of the Jackets.

The final race of the day pitted the men's quads (4x-). For the Berkeley men, the quad was the fifth boat to compete in the finals at these CJs. At the end of a long, emotional weekend of racing, Felix, Andre and Sam had one last chance to realize their dream. But in this event, the southern California teams were better: San Diego, Long Beach and Newport took gold, silver and bronze, respectively, with Newport edging Humboldt by a mere .33 seconds — a third of a second — for the final medal. In a sport that demands everything from its athletes, the difference between exhilaration and emptiness can come in the blink of eye.

Beyond the sweetness of victory, crew seduces with the lure of perfection. Once you get a taste of it, you want more. It doesn't come easily, or often. Maybe, for a few moments during the endless hours of practice on the water, a rower propelling her craft along the Alameda estuary might get a sense of it. To achieve that feeling in the midst of a race — during a championship weekend, among the top competition — that would be a worthy thing. It's a draw that makes the sport hard to kick, for graduating seniors and, probably, for master rowers, as well. Enough to help a team put up with serious thumpings at the hands of big clubs, whose rowers must be bionic. And to survive the heart-stopping, split second losses at the final buoy. Enough to make an athlete test the limits of his endurance, and to lead one to think, even through the disappointments, "I'm not done with this yet."

The season might have come to an end this weekend a few miles outside of Sacramento, but not the drive. As the schedule draws to a close, the motivation to train burns anew. There are strokes to win, seconds to gain. There are moments to perfect. Raise a salute to the 2010 Berkeley High Crew, before they head off into their futures. It was a year well taken.

Go Jackets!

Results on Racetrak.com: Saturday...  Sunday...

Photos: BHS Crew photo gallery   Eric Carlson's SmugMug gallery ...