Resilient Rowing through Biting Winds

Northville’s rowers braved harsh winds, rain, and cool temperatures at the Midwest Scholastic Rowing Association Championship Regatta held at Dillon State Park in Nashport, Ohio, on May 14-15. Unlike many regattas in which competitors typically dock their boats at the end of a race, here rowers waded through knee-deep water in order to beach their boats before hauling them out of frigid Dillon Lake. Competing against 46 clubs that hailed from eight states, six crews from Northville Rowing Club qualified for the finals after succeeding in staggered-starting head races as well as semifinals that spanned the two-day event.

Gusty winds prompted several semifinals originally set for Saturday to be rescheduled on Sunday morning, and as the rough conditions persisted, two final races for Northville’s crews were ultimately cancelled. As a result, senior Ashwath Muruganand gained a gold medal in the Men’s Varsity Singles event for his fastest semifinals time of 5:58.580. With Muruganand’s first-place performance, he will advance to Nationals, competing on the same course in two weeks. The duo of Muruganand and junior Jake Gourd received the bronze medal after coming in third place during the Men’s Varsity Doubles final race just six seconds off the leader. Also awarded the bronze medal was junior Jackie Cole for her solid third place finish during the Women’s Varsity Singles event.

Strong performances by Northville’s Men’s Novice 4+ crew in the head race and semifinals led to an overall fourth place finish for sophomores Brett Somerville, C.J. Daniels, Aaron Shute, freshman Mitchell Encelewski, and freshman Coxswain Nicholas Bhandari, coming in a mere 4.5 seconds behind the third place boat. Taking sixth place overall in the Men’s Novice 8+ boat were Somerville, Daniels, Shute, Encelewski, along with freshmen Andrew Crowell, Nick Cemalovic, juniors Quentin Baur, Yosef Mansi, and freshman Elyssa Daguanno as coxswain. Also achieving an overall sixth place standing based on their time in the Women’s Varsity Doubles semifinal event were junior Maya Sankaran and sophomore Belle Cureton, whose final race was eventually cancelled due to hazardous water conditions.

Reflecting upon the growth she’s seen in the rowers and the club’s consistent success throughout the season, Coach Katie Larder maintained, “We’ve learned a lot of valuable things about paying attention to details. Overall they [the athletes] did amazing and I’m really proud.” The club will take what they’ve learned to Grand Rapids on May 21, when the club will compete in the Scholastic Rowing Association of Michigan (SRAM) State Championship to close out their regular season.

Starting June 6, Northville Rowing Club will run a Learn to Row camp for middle school students who are interested in exploring this exciting water sport. Northville Rowing Club’s own Coach Larder will lead the camp, which will be held at the team’s practice location at Ford Lake in Ypsilanti. To register for the camp, look for the Sign Up Genius link that will soon be available on the Northville Rowing Club’s Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/northvillerowingclub/). For more information, please contact Lisa Pearson at Membership@northvillerowing.com.

Northville Rowing Club is a non-profit, 501C3, rowing for Northville High School. It is a co-ed, competitive club sport, with an opportunity to earn a Varsity Letter. With no experience required, we welcome 9th to 12th Grade students from Northville High School. For more information about the Northville Rowing Club, go to the club’s website at www.northvillerowing.com.

» Photo: Uma Arjunan | From left, Jake Gourd, Jackie Cole, and Ashwath Muruganand