Racing Underway at the 2025 Youth National Championships

​​Racing got underway with time trials in 29 of 38 events on Thursday at the 2025 USRowing Youth National Championships at Nathan Benderson Park in Sarasota, Fla. Due to inclement weather, racing was unable to proceed in the last nine events of the day.

This year's event is the largest ever, with 886 entries from 231 clubs across the country, bringing in just over 4,000 athletes. 38 time trials took place, in order to seed the A/B semifinals and E final races for tomorrow. The top 16 boats in each time trial will face off in the A/B semifinals and are fighting for a top-four finish to advance to the A finals for a shot at a national title.

In the first time trial of the day, Community Rowing Inc’s Simeon John dominated the time trial, finishing over four seconds ahead of second-place finisher Potomac Boat Club's Michael Madigan in the men's youth single sculls. John, the third-place finisher in the event last year, covered the course in 6:54.08.

In the women’s single sculls, North Palm Beach's Viktoria Ekstrand bested Enya Krathaus from Rowing Club of the Woodlands by .28 seconds to earn the top seed in tomorrow's women's youth single sculls semifinals. Emma Kirk of Cambridge Boat Club finished in third in a time of 7:43.59

Last year's women's double sculls winners, River City Crew, finished second behind Redwood Scullers. Olivia Petri and Sofia Tafoya crossed the finish line in 7:00.99, nearly seven seconds ahead of River City Crew. Sumner Kerr from River City Crew represented the U.S. last year at the 2024 World Rowing Under 19 Championships in the women’s quadruple sculls. Skyline Crew finished third with a 7:15.35, just beating out fourth-place finishers Oak Neck Rowing Academy by .25. On the men's side, Miami Beach Rowing Club’s double won by 1.64 seconds. Simon Paley and Ethan Ebizadeh return after finishing seventh at last year’s championships. Indianapolis Rowing Center and Y Quad City Rowing are right on their bow as both crews finished within .35 seconds of each other. 

In one of the tightest races of the day, Pocock Youth Rowing and Brooks School Crew are only separated by .08 seconds in the men's four with coxswain. Pocock took the win in the tight field. San Diego Rowing Club closed out the top three with a time of 6:13.75. In the women's four with coxswain, Nereid won the time trial by just over 1 second finishing in a time of 6:50.69. Noble and Greenough School and Inglemoor High School followed closely behind with only .11 separating the two crews for second and third place, respectively.

In the quadruple sculls events, Los Gatos once again showed that they were one of the best programs in the country. In the women’s event, only .04 separated first and second place, with Los Gatos Rowing Club winning the time trial over Waterford Crew. Los Gatos finished in second place in last year’s event. Los Gatos, last year's winners in the men's quadruple sculls event, took the win this morning in a time of 5:50.29. Maritime finished second, just under 3 seconds behind Los Gatos. Belen Jesuit Prep finished in third place.

Deerfield Academy took the win by just .34 seconds over Marin in the men's eight. RowAmerica Rye, last year’s winner, finished in third place, 1.70 seconds off of first. In the women's youth eight, RowAmerica Rye, last year’s winners, posted the best time by over 10.19 seconds, finishing in a 5:59.83. Crew Boosters of Winter Park finished second in a 6:10.02, with Community Rowing Inc. finishing third in a 6:12.36. 

Click here for today's complete results.

Racing continues Friday with semifinals and E finals. Saturday will feature the B finals in the U17 and U16 boat classes, as well as the C and D finals. Sunday's racing will feature the A finals (medal races) for all boat classes and the B finals for the youth boat classes. Click here for a complete schedule and here for the heat sheet.

The event will be streamed live on Overnght.