RowAmerica Rye Sweeps Points Trophies at 2022 USRowing Youth Summer National Championships

RowAmerica Rye swept the points trophies and 29 boats won national titles Sunday on the final day of competition at the 2022 USRowing Youth Summer National Championships on Melton Lake in Oak Ridge, Tenn.

With the size of the regatta continuing to grow, USRowing split its summer championships into two events in 2022. This week's regatta featured racing in the youth, U17, and U16 categories, with nearly 1,200 athletes and 717 boats from 56 programs competing.

RowAmerica Rye swept the youth summer nationals points trophies, winning the all-points trophy, women's points trophy, and men's points trophies. And while the two summer national championships took place separately, clubs still had the opportunity to race for the combined all-points trophies across both regattas. RowAmerica Rye also swept the combined trophies, winning the Colgan Cup Overall Team Points Trophy, Sulgar-Barnes Men's Points Trophy, and Marion D. Ventura Women's Points Trophy.

Miami Beach Watersports Center's Grace Matos and Alexa Matos took home the gold medal in the women's youth double sculls, defeating the Oak Neck Academy composite boat of Catherine Barry and Hannah Peters by 2.56 seconds.

"It was a great race," Grace Matos said. "We raced some really great competition. We're surprised, but we had an amazing race, and we're really happy."

The Matos twins, who just finished their senior years in high school and jumped into a double for their last high school race together, crossed the finish line in a 7:54.42, ahead of Barry and Peters, rising seniors who will be representing the U.S. in the double later this month at the 2022 World Rowing Under 19 Championships. The twins rowed in separate events at the 2022 USRowing Youth National Championships in mid-June, with Grace winning the youth double sculls with a different partner and Alexa finishing fourth in the youth women's four.

"We knew that they were going to be a very strong boat, so we just went into it giving it our all, not getting too confident, not getting too discouraged," Alexa Matos said. "We knew what we had to give, and we gave it our all. All of our work the full season – it comes up to moments like this. Feels great."

In the men's youth pair event, RowAmerica Rye's Toma Sellar and Rahil Dundon took home the gold medal in a 7:20.36 ahead of Oak Neck Academy's Nicholas Cesario and Christopher Hom. The RowAmerica boat finished 2.2 seconds in front of the Oak Neck crew. USRowing's High Performance Camp finished third.

The women's youth eight saw Ready Set Row top Row West Racing Camp by one second to win the gold medal. Ready Set Row clocked a 6:58.27, with Row West finishing in a 6:59.28. Greenwich Crew took the bronze medal in a 7:01.48.

In the men's under 17 double sculls, Vero Beach Rowing Club's Aidan Powers and Hunter Coughlin defeated Miami Rowing and Watersports Center's Andres Hernandez-Ibanez and George Pesin by nearly seven seconds to win the gold medal.

"We went into it knowing it was going to be a close race between us and Miami," Coughlin said. "Right off the start, we got a little bit of a lead, so we were feeling pretty good, and we just kept that lead and finished strong."

In the women's under 17 double sculls, Litchfield Hills Rowing Club's Lillian Auth and Melanie Rundall took home the gold medal in an 8:09.81, finishing over four seconds ahead of Narragansett Boat Club's Estelle Pivorunas and Araminta Gaitskell. Earlier in the day, Auth won a silver medal in the women's under 17 single sculls behind Row West Racing Camp's Teegan Farley.

The closest race of the day was in the women's U17 eight, with RowAmerica Rye besting Ready Set Row by less than one second. RowAmerica clocked a 7:04.18, with Ready Set Row finishing in a 7:05.07. The USRowing High Performance Camp finished third.

RowAmerica Rye also bested Ready Set Row in the women's youth quadruple sculls by just over a second. RowAmerica won the race in a 7:24.54, with Ready Set Row finishing in a 7:25.59.

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