Dragon Boat Team Makes Waves

The California Dragon Boat Association hosts dragon boat races, a tradition which originated from ancient China.

At Sunday's race, Milpitas and Mountain View High School students, who are , placed 3rd in the College/Youth Division and 3rd in the Competitive Mixed B Division.

Patch: Who are the paddlers from Milpitas High School? 

Larry Yang, club president (Mountain View High School): Juleyanne Lanuzo is a fresh graduate. Brandon Phan, Michelle Cheah, Joey Ly are soon-to-be seniors.

Soon-to-be juniors are Michael Luong, Wesley Lu, Cyrus Sepehri, Linus Chan, and Vanessa Yeh.

Soon to be sophomores are: Stephen Hsu, Tiffany Vuong, April Son, Thuy Le, Abraham Tien, Christine Tran, Pauline Cao, Joey Phan, Jaime Tran, and Jake Pham.

Patch: Whose idea was it to establish the team?

Yang: Luke Cassereau was introduced to the sport by his father, who was a paddler on Diesel Fish. After competing and coaching Diesel Fish Luke thought it would be a great idea to expand the sport to his own high school and united with some of his friends to start the first [Mountain View High School] dragon boat team. 

Patch: Are team members familiar with the Chinese origins of dragon boat racing?

Yang: Some may, though it would be because of their own prerogative as we do not discuss the history of the sport at all.

Patch: Is the team mostly Chinese or do you have other ethnicities represented as well?  

Yang: There are 12 chinese paddlers at this race, with the other 50 plus percent being of other Asian/Pacific Islander descent. Many of our members are also of mixed race whether it be Persian, Caucasian, or different Asian.

Patch: How did the team do at the annual CDBA Youth Race back in April?

Yang: We were able to make it into the B division, but barely lost to an elite high school team for 3rd place.