Island rowers earned medals, set personal bests and raced their farewell races last month at a premiere regional youth competition.

On May 15, 56 youth rowers, their families, and six coaches from Vashon Island Rowing Club traveled to the USRowing Northwest Youth Championships in Vancouver, Washington. Ominous weather and crosswinds had everyone on their toes, but many rowers were fortunate to find calm waters.

With more than 30 entries, and athletes rowing or coxing in two events, the club landed 21 boats in the A finals of their respective events; 12 boats in the B finals; and three boats in the C finals. No boat left without hearing the support of their teammates, as the on-land cheering squad made their support heard with the famous call-and-response “Go! Vashon!” chant.

“I think regionals is the biggest and [most fun] regatta I have been to, as well as super challenging,” said novice rower Blake McBennet, who just finished his first spring season with VIRC.

Gold medal highlights of the regatta included a solid climb from fourth in time-trials to first in the men’s under-16 double sculls final, a nail-biting first place finish in the women’s second varsity quadruple sculls — pulling ahead by under 1 second — and men’s youth second varsity single rower Xander Nelson sprinting his way from a second place finish in his time trial to a gold medal in the A final.

The club also had some bittersweet races, with nine graduating seniors experiencing their last regionals with their boats and teammates: Laurel Calhoun, Selene Dalinis, Paige Gibbons, Ava Webb, Rowan White, Grant Gonter, Tao Riley, Jack Kassik and Eban Tracy, who joined VIRC in sixth grade. Calhoun, Webb, Gonter and Riley, the current team captains, have worked hard to support their teammates.

“I think regionals was a perfect culmination of everyone’s hard work over the year,” Calhoun said. “A lot of boats put down PRs [personal records] and came off the water feeling really successful, which is the best feeling after all the training that we put in. I’m really proud of all the rowers on the team and am super excited to see where this momentum takes us.”

During every race — both on the water and for onlookers on land — camaraderie, friendship, excitement, and support was shared between the Vashon athletes, coaches, and families. Over the weekend, the VIRC athletes were well-fed by the many parent volunteers working hard at the food tent to prepare and cook breakfast, lunch and dinner for the coaches and hungry rowers.

“As coaches we look for improvement year to year and the team certainly delivered this year. We’re excited to see this level of growth in all of our athletes,” Head Coach Ben Steele reflected after the weekend. “It’s sad to have such a large graduating class, but means so much to us to have grown the squad to the point that we are now graduating enough seniors to fill an 8+ (boat).”

By the end of the weekend, VIRC secured several qualifications for the USRowing Youth Nationals Regatta, extending a 14-year streak of qualifications.

Two boats go to Sarasota, Florida to represent VIRC from June 12-15, making the long cross-country trip to race with the fastest youth teams in the nation: The women’s under-17 quadruple sculls (Kiran Rajaratnam, Gwen Tomlinson, Willa Lee, Rose Ely) and the men’s under-16 coxed quadruple sculls (Brendan Blower, Arlo Harris, Alden Metler, Grayson Hamilton, coxed by Kiran Rajaratnum).

Willa Lee is a Vashon Island Rowing Club youth athlete and Vashon High School student. Delany Steele is the boathouse director and youth novice coach of the rowing club.