Oak Hollow Lake, High Point – Rowing battles continue in North Carolina this weekend with High Point Rowing Club’s youth squad hosting Charlotte in a series of 1,500 meter boat races.
High Point’s girls will open the morning against Charlotte with the varsity eights set to clash at 9am. The crew of coxswain Morgan Epling, stroke Victoria Goldin, Maddie Mullins, Junior Ognovich, Aliute Udoka, Emma Lloyd, Jaclyn Hronich, Olivia Corriere, and Shelby Reece will start hot favorite to win after convincing wins the past two weeks against Triangle and at the James River Sprints in Virginia.
However, should the crew clinch victory as many expect, the moment may be bittersweet for the five seniors on board. For Aliute, Emma, Victoria, Olivia, and Jaclyn it will be the final racing strokes on Oak Hollow Lake of their high school careers in their beloved eight-oar shell named ‘Fred’. No doubt the electricity of emotions will be winding through this talented crew as it powers its way through the final few hundred meters on Saturday.
In boys racing, the varsity eight battled hard last weekend only to lose a close verdict to Triangle. Earlier this season the crew enjoyed a run away win at the Jame River Sprints and seeks to return to winning form against Charlotte at 9:10am. Adam Alt, Austin Young, Kevin Capps, Mac Warwick, and Kyle Koval will also graduate this spring and will be counting on their crew mates’ support for a victorious send off.
“These are special moments that can lift a boat club,” says coach Gene Kininmonth, who founded the program in 2012. “This is a time in a young man or woman’s life that they realize you don’t always get ‘do overs’. There isn’t always going to be a next week. Your time is truly now. The effect of these moments can be transformational for a club and I am looking forward to seeing some outstanding rowing on Saturday morning.”
