Rowing club excels in championships

LITCHFIELD » The Litchfield Hills Rowing Club once again participated this year at the US Rowing New England Regional Championships at Lake Quinsigamond in Worcester, MA this past weekend, for a bid to race at the US Rowing Youth National Championships in Sarasota, Florida. The top three rowers in each event are invited.

Events ranged from 8-person boats to single sculls, with varsity to novice racing on the docket. LHRC is a composite club with high school rowers from Litchfield, Wamogo, Nonnewaug, Watertown, Bethel and Marvelwood high schools.

LHRC had 10 boats and 24 rowers representing the team, and six of those boats moved on to finals. The Boys Novice Four coxed by Aiden Mannillo, also included Tristan Coolbeth, AJ Butler, Ethan Hannon, and Anderson Warshaw. Caleb Parilla and Charlie Hannon were in the final of the Boys Pair. A Girls Lightweight Double was rowed by Landry Langlais and Ruby Hatfield. Hank Zinn and Oscar Sanchez each competed in the Boys Lightweight Single final, and Rose Kelly was in the Girls Single race.

Of those making it to finals, Hank Zinn came through with a very impressive second place, while Rose Kelly was able to garner third place in her event. Unfortunately for Zinn, the lightweight single event is not a national one for US Rowing, so he did not go to Florida for that competition. Kelly represented LHRC there, as one of potentially 30 competitors from around the country in her event in Sarasota on June 9-11.

The LHRC junior team is coached by Kynan Reelick and Anna Kobayashi. The team has continued to expand its small boat/sculling program for the last 4 years under Reelicks leadership. This lets the coaches be more creative in combining the athletes they have, so they can compete in more varied events and venues.

For information about rowing programs and lessons, visit http://www.litchfieldhillsrowing.org/summer/