Perrysburg Rowing sends two to finals at Midwest Championships

Perrysburg Rowers traveled to southeastern Ohio this weekend for the Midwest Scholastic Rowing Association Championship Regatta. This is just the second year attending for the Jackets. Forty-nine schools from Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky and West Virginia competed at the two-day event held at Dillon Lake in Zanesville, Ohio.

Perrysburg was able to get two boats to the finals. Jack & Sam Miller advanced to finals in the Varsity Men’s 2-. The race had them pulling to a very respectable 5th place out of 16 entries. Ashley and Nicole Dibling advanced to finals and finished 1st in the Women’s Varsity 2x out of 15. With that first place, the Diblings will be headed to the National Championship Regatta in Camden, New Jersey on May 25 & 26. Overall in the point totals Perrysburg came in 25th out of the 49 schools attending in just their 2nd year attending Midwest.

Perrysburg might have had another one or two boats make it to finals; however, a late afternoon pop up thunderstorm, including a strong flash of lightning in the very near vicinity, sent spectators, officials and athletes scurrying for cover. At that point, there were numerous boats still on the water, ready to race or warming up. The Regatta committee sent boats back to shore to get off the water and find shelter. After a weather delay, the regatta decide to cut some semi final races and take the top 6 from time trials to compete in the finals race on Sunday.

Other boat lineups that attended the race:
Women’s Varsity 2- (A) M. Gruden / G. Burkin - 10th
Women’s Varsity 2- (B) I. Delgado / A. Harbauer - 11th
Men’s Varsity 2x N. Kucic / N. Beier - 7th
Women’s Varsity 4+ M. Gruden, G. Burkin, I. Delgado, A. Harbauer, Coxswaine: I. Fitzgerald - 20th
Men’s Varsity 1x N Beier  - 10th
Men’s Varsity 1x N Kucic – 16th
Men’s Novice 4+ M. Zachel, C. Kadur, E. Pryor, O. Durham, Coxswain: G. Smith - 11th
Overall, the team did well with their boat finishes. With this event being the same weekend as Prom, many of our rowers did not participate but for those who did, the results and experience were worth their efforts. More information about Perrysburg Rowing may be found at www.perrysburgrowingclub.com. Perrysburg will also offer a summer camp July 30 – August 3. That information is also on the web site.