Midwest Scholastic Championships

The Saline Crew team travelled to Harsha Lake in Cincinnati for the Midwest Scholastic Nationals on Saturday and Sunday, May 9 and 10th.  On the first day of racing, two seniors - Allison Cook and Erin Lankerd - raced in the women’s pair event and qualified for the finals.  The men’s lightweight four of Tim Carter, Parry Ragland, Ben Summers, and Nate Cook steered by senior coxswain, Fraser Christie qualified for the semifinals.  The day was interrupted by strong winds which caused the men’s Novice eight event to be run as a “head style” race against the clock to qualify for finals.  Despite a strong effort, the Saline crew was unable to break into the top six times to advance to finals.
 
Junior Molly Visel rowed in the women’s junior four and said “it was fun to race against crews from all over the Midwest and see how we stood against them.”   There were 42 teams from six different states.   “We were able to see a lot of experienced crews and race against the best of the best” said Junior Parry Ragland.
 
On the second day of racing, the men’s pair of seniors Sean Connors and John Recknagel raced in a very tough heat and came in third, missing qualifying for finals by one second.  The Saline Crew day ended with the women’s pair rowing to a fourth place finish in the finals, just four seconds behind the third place crew.

The State Championships are on May 16th and Women’s coaches Sam Murphy and Bridgette Sparks are hoping to see some great performances.  The First Inaugural Michigan State High School Rowing Championships were canceled last year due to weather but Men’s coach Dave Fiske said he is “looking forward to going down in the history of Michigan High School rowing as the first ever to win medals at the State Championships.”