Oakland Strokes Wins Two National Gold Medals

Oakland Strokes won gold twice Sunday as the women's varsity 8 and the women's lightweight eight both placed first in the USRowing 2012 youth national championships in Oak Ridge, TN Sunday.

The men's lightweight 8 from Oakland Strokes won first place in the "B" finals.

Piedmont residents in the winning boats were Amanda Rutherford and Katie Hubert in the women's varsity 8; Katie Bird and Anna Weitelmann in the women's lightweight 8; and David Hosler, Ben Stollman and Alec Petty in the men's lightweight 8.

“Overall, we just had a great group this year,” said Oakland Strokes coach Derek Brynes in a US rowing press release. “We had just one hiccup at our regional, but I mean just a phenomenal year. Talk about a new level of women’s rowing. That was such an amazing field out there.”

Oakland Strokes, a 200-member junior rowing club for middle and high school students, represents 29 Bay Area high schools and has sent countless student-athletes to college rowing programs across the country. Each year the Strokes boats place strongly in local, regional and national championship regattas. Its boathouse is on the Oakland estuary near the High Street Bridge.