Posted on by HPRC

High Point Rowers Shine at Dogwood Junior Championships

Waterfront real estate is premium for rowers and their boats at the 2018 Dogwood Junior Championships regatta in Oak Ridge, Tennessee,

Oak Ridge, TN – High Point Rowing Club’s youth squad shined in racing at the Dogwood Junior Championships Regatta over the weekend, winning gold in two championship finals and a bronze medal in a third. Equally as rewarding to the team, every rower that raced made a grand final on Sunday in the two-day regatta.

Oak Ridge Rowing Association welcomed 2,000 youth rowers from all over the Southeast and Midwest to compete in the 2018 Dogwood Junior Regional Regatta. The regatta is one of the largest in the Southeast.

A crew’s performance at the event will be considered heavily for selection purposes by coaches at the USRowing Southeast Regional Championship in Sarasota, Florida in May, where rowers compete to qualify for the Youth National Championships.

High Point’s Charlotte Curri and Ainsley Fox won gold in the women’s lightweight double sculls final – the first win in a team boat at Dogwood for the club. Just an hour earlier, Charlotte teamed up with Arte Blythe to win a bronze medal in the women’s U17 double sculls final.

Gold for Charlotte Curri and Ainsley Fox at the 2018 Dogwood Junior Championships regatta.

The next gold medal won for High Point was in the Men’s U17 double sculls final. Matthew Hronich and Jacob Messick combined to lead from wire to wire on the Melton Lake race course in Oak Ridge.

Jacob Messick and Matthew Hronich strike gold at the 2018 Dogwood Junior Championships.
Charlotte Curri and Ainsley Fox wearing the gold medals won in the women’s lightweight double sculls final at the 2018 Dogwood Junior Championships regatta.

The depth of the women’s sculling squad was proven over the weekend with High Point’s two women’s quad sculls successfully making it through the time trials and semi finals to the grand final. In the final High Point’s A boat of Junior Ognovich, Lindsay York, Molly HIlemn and Ainsley Fox just missed out on a medal in a photo finish at the line.

“Our High Point rowers showed incredible resiliency and commitment to racing in Oak Ridge,” said coach Gene Kininmonth. “Everyone made finals although in hindsight we raced some of them, particularly our single scullers, in too many events this weekend and that hurt their ability to perform in the finals. But the racing experience will help them reach higher levels in two weeks at the Southeast Regional Championships in Sarasota. I have no doubt their best is yet to come.”

High Point missed out on a medal by a bow ball in the women’s quad sculls final at the 2018 Dogwood Regatta.
Charlotte Curri and Arte Blythe won bronze in the U17 double sculls final at the 2018 Dogwood Junior Championships regatta.
Rowers lie in absolute exhaustion between races at the 2018 Dogwood Regatta. Some rowers raced as many as 8 2,000 meter races over the weekend.
The boys quad scull of William Hundley, Harry Capizzi, William Scarpa, and Govind Harish made it to the final at the Dogwood Championships.
Arte Blythe, Ashley Walker, Emily Winberg and Charlotte Curri were one of two High Point quad sculls that made it to the final at the 2018Dogwood Junior Rowing Championships.
Every rower for High Point qualified for a final at the 2018 Dogwood Junior Rowing Championships.
It was a photo finish for High Point’s quad scull crew of Ainsley Fox, Molly HIlemn, Lindsay York, and Junior Ognovich at the 2018 Dogwood Junior Championships regatta.