Husky Open offered strong competition for BBRC crews

Published 1:30 am Wednesday, April 3, 2019

Last weekend, a group of Burton Beach junior rowers competed at the University of Washington’s Husky Open, rowing through the historic Montlake Cut.

It is a small but prestigious regatta, that features a great diversity of competition, with junior, collegiate and masters crews all on the docket. BBRC raced in both the junior boys’ and girls’ coxed quad events.

For the boys, a crew of Jordon Rutschow, Davis Kelly, Dylan Carmody and Brian DeLoach and coxswain Joe Barnes, placed fourth in its heat against some of the best in the area, including the always formidable Seattle Rowing Center.

BBRC coach Richard Parr had nothing but praise for his young charges.

“Four of the five of them are 9th-graders, and at this point in time, they are no match for the age, power and experience of the region’s leaders,” he said. “But the boys showed great composure and rowed really well for their first time on this course. I was really proud of them.”

Of this crew, a boys’ double of Rutschow and Kelly have been invited to compete at a regatta in Zhengzhou, China, in a few weeks’ time.

BBRC’s junior girls’ quad of Mabel Moses, Gabbie Graves, Ros Belscheidt, Kate Kelly and coxswain Olivia Sherman, dominated its heat, winning by over 30 seconds. At the Husky Open, medals are only awarded to the crews with the fastest time across all heats of each event, so it was ultimately Olympia, who pipped BBRC by 0.9 seconds in winning its heat, who went home with the gold.

— by Richard Parr, BBRC coach and Sarah Low, Beachcomber reporter and Parr’s wife