TriStar’s Feret Wins Two Events, Sets World Record on Saturday at Indoor Nationals

TriStar Rowing's Katherine Feret won two events on Saturday, setting a new world record in the process, to highlight the first day of competition at the 2023 USRowing Atlantic City Indoor National Championships at the Atlantic City Convention Center in New Jersey

The 12-year-old opened her day by winning the women's under 15 2,000-meter race in a 7:20.3, setting a new 12 and under world record for the 2k in the process. A couple of hours later, she won the kids 500-meter race.

"I don't know what was really going through my head, but I had a lot of people behind me cheering – my whole team, my brother, my coaches," said Feret, who began rowing during the summer of 2021. "I stopped (playing) soccer, and it was either this or swimming. The first day I started a learn to row camp, I was hooked."

"It's really exciting to have someone so young and so powerful," said TriStar coach Katie Moore. "The whole team was behind her, like she said. She's been really consistent and really passionate about rowing, so it was exciting for the future for her and for our team."

In the most contested event of the regatta, The Lawrenceville School's Harry Halper earned the victory in the under 19 men's 2,000-meter race by just over two seconds, winning with a time of 6:17.4. Christian Brothers Academy Crew's James Larrabee finished second in a 6:19.7. With 137 rowers showing up to race, Larabee held a slight advantage through the middle 1,000 meters before Halper was able to pull ahead in the sprint. The Lawrenceville Schools' Charlie Vachris took the bronze medal in a 6:20.6.

"I was very excited when I heard about this event," Halper said. "I really just want to thank my coach, Mr. (Benjamin) Wright, at Lawrenceville School. He really prepared me for this 2k. Going into it, I felt really confident. The first 1,100 meters, all I saw was my split. I didn't really feel it. Once I got to 900 meters left, everything hit me. I felt 'in the piece,' and I just (gave) everything I had in me. I'm very proud of how it went. Overall, an awesome experience."

Oak Neck Academy's Brooke Seebeck took gold in the U19 women's 2,000-meter event, crossing the finish line in a 7:10.5 to best Twin Cities Youth Rowing Club's Courtney French by 6.1 seconds. French finished in a 7:16.6. French led through the first 1,000 meters before Seebeck took the lead in the second half of the race. Holy Spirit High School's Taya Anderson finished third in a 7:23.6 to win the bronze medal.

"I've been really paying attention to the workouts I've been pulling at practice and really just working on my pacing, because every time I didn't hit the split I wanted at practice, it was due to inconsistency," Seebeck said. "My goal here was just to stay consistent and then bring it down in the last 600, 500 meters. I'm happy to see that strategy worked."

New Trier High School Rowing's Connor Gamse won the men's U17 event in a 6:22.4, with Radnor Girls Crew Club's Zara Taylor taking the women's U17 event in a 7:32.7.

In the men's triathlon event, which is raced across the rowing erg, bike erg and ski erg, Penn AC's Michael Herman clocked a 4:47.8 to finish two seconds in front of Ivan Milan. Amanda Stewart won the women's triathlon event.

Indoor nationals is being run concurrently with the 2023 USRowing Annual Convention presented by Filippi and offers events in the under 15, under 16, under 17, under 19, under 23, open, para, and masters categories. In addition to the traditional 2,000-meter format, competitors have the opportunity to compete in a triathlon with the erg, bike erg and ski erg, as well as 500-meters sprints, watts tests, and more. Medals are up for grabs across 65 categories. More than 660 athletes are racing this weekend.

Racing continues Sunday at 8:30 a.m. and will be streamed live on USRowing's YouTube channel. A complete schedule can be found here. Click here for complete information and to see a list of vendors.