This weekend was Varsity’s turn to take a break while the Novice squads travelled to Oak Ridge, TN For Secret City.  And living up to Oak Ridge traditions, the day started off cold and foggy.  But the fog quickly burned off and with the sun, came some warmth. And a busy day ensued.

All rowers saw plenty of water time with almost everybody racing twice.  A couple of boats raced against the “big boys” as they were entered into Varsity races. All in all, it was a great day for AJRA Novice. Below are the medal results.

Gold: NM A8+

Silver: WL (Women’s Lightweight) A8+, WL  A4+

Bronze: NW A8+, WL B8+, NW B4+

While the Novices got a weekend off, it was work as usual for the Varsity teams! This weekend saw the Varsity team split – the WV8+ and WV4+ taking on the Head of the Charles in Boston and the bulk of the team took on the Tail of the Tiger at Clemson, South Carolina.

First two AJRA medals of the day were pulled in by the Varsity Men’s 8s, placing 1st, 3rd and 7th. All four VM 4s placed in the top 6 finishing 2nd, 3rd, 5th and 6th.

The VW8s finished 1st and 7th. While the 4s took 2nd and 4th with the lightweight 4s winning 1st and 2nd.

Meanwhile, with thousands watching from the Elliott Bridge, the WV8 pulled 29th out of 84 and the WV4 pulled a 34 out of 85.  Both winning bids to return to this elite worldwide stage next year.

All around, it was a SMASHING weekend with our AJRA rowers.

Tail of the Tiger medal count:

Gold-3

Silver-3

Bronze-2

The first full team regatta started off with a little rain causing delays in Chattanooga.  It quickly moved through and produced a beautiful day for rowing.

Novice squads had a great showing for their first regatta.

NM: 8s placed 1st, 5th and 8th. 4s placed 1st, 3rd and 9th.

NW: 8s placed 3rd, 6th, and 8th. 4s placed 4th, 5th and 7th.

Varsity squads were not to be left behind.

VW: 8s placed 1st, 2nd, 7th and 11th. 4s placed 2nd, 3rd and 4th.

VM: 8s placed 1st, 8th, 9th and 10th. 4s placed 2nd, 3rd, 10th and 11th.

AJRA won the overall Junior Team Points Trophy. Major kudos goes out to the VM and VW 8s for sweeping Gold and bringing home the First Annual River Rock Youth 8+ Trophies.

Keep repping AJRA with pride!

Full race results can be found at www.chattanoogaheadrace.com.

Public photos, courtesy of row2k, can be found at www.row2k.com.

AJRA kicked off the fall regatta season with the Varsity Men traveling to Oklahoma City.

Eight rowers-Kevin Bower, Chandler Boyd, Joe Cecil, Griffin Ingraham, Henry Lorens, Matt Morelli, Hunter Smith and Michael Stagnaro along with their Coxwains, Jasmine Renkin and Alaine Smith, made the trek to OKC with their coach, Kyle Daugherty, joining 50 other clubs from 17 states.

Saturday afternoon the Youth 8+ finished 4th overall coming in 15 seconds behind 1st place. Later that night, the 8+ took 3rd at Night Sprints. On Sunday, the 8 VM broke into two 4s placing 6th and 4th, just half a second from the bronze medal.

Quite a nice showing from our boys. Way to rep AJRA!

Congratulations is in order for two of AJRA’s very own- McKenzie Parks and Evan Ketchum- earning Honorable Mention on the USRowing Scholastic Honor Roll.

Every scholastic year, USRowing Scholastic Honor Roll recognizes high school seniors who have excelled in both their academic and rowing career. This year, 164 student-athletes applied.  Forty-nine earned spots on the Honor Roll and 36 earned Honorable Mention.

The full list can be found at www.usrowing.org.