Mia Croonquist, a former Vashon Island Rowing Club rower now excelling on the University of California, Berkeley’s rowing team, christened an eight-person rowing shell with a bottle of champagne at a ceremony Saturday morning. The shell is named after her.

Many of Croonquist’s family members, as well as her first coach, Sam Burns, came to the ceremony at the Jensen Point boathouse to say a few words about her. She spoke too, about what Vashon and rowing have meant to her, VIRC Board President Colby Atwood said.

Croonquist began rowing with Vashon’s rowing club as a high school student in 2010 and catapulted herself onto the international rowing stage in 2011 when she won the World Rowing Junior Championships. She went on to win silver at the 2012 World Rowing Senior and Junior Championships and then earned silver at the World Championships in 2014.

“At 19, Mia has won more international rowing medals (five, including two golds last year) than anyone her age ever has,” Atwood said. “We will be proud to row the Mia Croonquist in regattas throughout the Northwest, not only because of the amazing things Mia has accomplished as a rower, but also because she is such a great person. She is a wonderful ambassador for Vashon all over the world. We wish her the best.”