Vashon crews qualify for national stage
Published 1:30 am Tuesday, June 9, 2026
The Vashon Island Rowing Club (VIRC) has been celebrating some strong finishes and gearing up for the USRowing Youth National Championships that take place in June.
What is different about this sport is that instead of a state competition, rowers gather each May in Vancouver, Washington, at the USRowing NW Youth Championships to compete with teams from all over Washington, Oregon and Idaho. This year, a notable number of Vashon boats made it into A finals — VIRC had 21 boats that were in the top six finishes of their events in the Northwest region.
This year, six of those boats, a total of 20 athletes, also qualified for the USRowing Youth Nationals. This is the 14th consecutive year that VIRC has had boats qualify for Nationals, which take place June 11-14 in Sarasota, Florida.
But when you talk to the coaches, it’s not just about the boats that win. To make a great rowing team, they say, everyone matters. “There are some rowers who go to Nationals,” says Coach Ben Steele, “but they represent the whole team that helped make that happen. It’s a lot harder to make a great boat without the whole team making it fun and hard, and the right teammates make you push harder for them than you would want to push for yourself.”
If you’ve ever stood on one of our rocky Vashon beaches and watched VIRC rowers work in tandem, you know that there can be a certain soothing experience that comes from watching humans work in sync together.
For the athletes, rowing is just as mental as it is physical. Rowers spend hours building strength, technique and skill — but they aren’t the only things that make you fast. Being able to push yourself to your own limits to support your teammates is what being a competitive rower is all about. Using your teammates’ success and skill as motivation and encouragement for one another rather than comparison is an important part of VIRC culture.
VIRC is a multi-age team with youth athletes and coxswains from seventh grade to high school seniors, and an adult team ages 22 to 80. The heart of the club rests on values that support the rowers all year long: respectful — a healthy team makes everyone better; accountable — be there for your team, take ownership of everything you do; and driven — strive to be better every day, don’t be afraid to fail.
At some of the eight regattas the team competes in throughout the year, you’ll see stickers for sale with sayings like, “I can’t. I have crew,” making rowers and parents alike chuckle. Though registration happens in three seasons, VIRC operates all school year and offers summer camps for inexperienced and experienced rowers. Athletes train five to six days a week, depending on their age and skill, for nine months of the year on and off the water.
For those going to Nationals, the training just ramped up.During the few weeks between NW Championships and Nationals, athletes competing on the national stage are in their boat six days a week, launching as soon as they arrive after school and rowing until dinnertime. With recent mild weather, you might expect them to be in summer rowing gear, but you’ll see them launching from the Jensen Point boathouse in their full winter layers — preparing to race in the heat and humidity of Florida in June.
Nationals bound athletes are inviting community support to help offset the cost of sending boats and athletes to Nationals, with more information available on VIRC’s Givebutter fundraising page.
Recently, the whole team gathered as they do each spring to celebrate their season’s completion at their end-of-year banquet. At this event, awards are given and those running for one of the four captain positions, two women and two men, give their speeches and are voted in by their fellow teammates.
It’s also the event where “the proper goodbyes” are said to the team’s departing seniors. Each senior gives a short speech, often regaling the audience with funny or moving stories about their time as a Vashon Island Rowing Club member. Each senior is in turn celebrated by coaches, as each coach speaks about each departing athlete.
The team is bidding a fond farewell to its graduating seniors: Fin Graham, Henry Cooper, Karston Mannina, Lance Westbrook, Max Kline, Mitchell Grossman, Quentin Cherry, Tyler Davis, Will Parker, Xander Nelson and Yvie Hu; congratulating the athletes who qualified for USRowing National Championships: Alden Metler, Atalie Cartier, Carter Brannon, Elena Webb, Eliza DeLapp, Emmett George, Grayson Hamilton, Gwen Tomlinson, Helena Shrestha, Henry Marshall, Jane Ely, Kiran Rajaratnam, Lukas Lanske, Mila Amie Jones, Rudy Parish, Utah Lowry, Vaughn Harmon, Victoria Wellington, Violet Alpen and Xylus Cartier; and celebrating completing a successful 2025-26 year of training, racing and representing Vashon at home and around the region.
Island author, Aimée Cartier, is the mother of two VIRC athletes.
