Racing Delivers Thrilling Finishes on Day Three of Youth National Championships

Racing kicked off Saturday morning with the remaining semifinals at the 2026 USRowing Youth National Championships for the U16 events and all of the semifinals for the U17 events. Justin Herrera from Belen Jesuit Prep School (Miami, Fla.) had a sizeable win in the U17 men’s single sculls, where he finished seven seconds ahead of second place. In the U17 women’s single sculls, Clare McKenna from Parati Competitive Rowing (The Woodlands, Tex.) won her semifinal by 13 seconds. 

Later on, in the bigger boats, Maritime Rowing Club (East Norwalk, Conn.) had an impressive finish in the U17 men’s quadruple sculls, where both their A and B entries finished in the top four in the semifinal to advance to tomorrow’s A finals. Finally, the semifinals finished off with some electric racing in both of the U17 Women’s eight semifinals. In the first semifinal, Chicago Rowing Foundation (Chicago, Ill.) and Newport Aquatic Center (Newport Beach, Calif.) were neck and neck at the finish, but Chicago pulled ahead by 0.26 seconds at the line. In the second semifinal, Sammamish Rowing Association (Redmond, Wash.) won by about three seconds, but only 0.33 seconds separated second, third, and fourth place. 

An hour and a half later, the B Finals for U16 and U17 boats began. In the men’s U16 coxed quadruple sculls, RowAmerica Rye B (Rye, N.Y.) won the B final, finishing ninth in the country by 0.22 seconds over Canisius High School (Buffalo, N.Y.). In the B final for the women’s U17 eight, Dayton Boat Club (Moraine, Ohio) finished ninth in the country with a two-second lead over DC National Rowing Club (Poolesville, Md.) and Greenwich Crew (Greenwich, Conn.), who finished tenth and eleventh in the nation, respectively, separated by only 0.12 seconds.

Tight racing continued into the C finals, where Narragansett Boat Club (Providence, R.I.) won the men’s four by 0.12 seconds in a photo finish with Dayton Boat Club. 

The best racing of the day took place in the C final of the women’s youth eight, where there were not only one but two photo finishes. Atlanta Junior Rowing Association (Roswell, Ga.) barely took third from The Milwaukee Rowing Club (Milwaukee, Wis.), finishing only 0.02 seconds ahead. Moments later, Saugatuck Rowing Club (Westport, Conn.) had an even closer finish, earning sixth by 0.01 seconds over Mount Saint Joseph Academy (Flourtown, Penn.).

Tomorrow marks the final day of racing, beginning with A finals in all events, where national champions will be crowned, followed by B finals.

The graduation ceremony has been rescheduled for tonight at 7:15 p.m. at Nathan Benderson Park. All families, teammates, spectators, and supporters are welcome to attend. This will be followed by Toast in the Tower at 7:30 p.m. in the VIP area (2nd floor of the finish tower).  

Racing will be streamed live on Overnght.com. Results will be available here. A photo gallery of racing is available here.