The 2025 USRowing Youth National Championship is 30 years old and one of the most significant youth sporting events in the United States. Held yearly, over four days in early summer, 4,000 plus athletes, 1000 coaches, 5000 spectators will flock to Nathan Benderson Park. Watched by D1-D3 college coaches and recruiters, this is the final arbiter of year-end overall performance and end-of-season boat speed, rankings, and of schools and programme performance. Those crews skilful enough will be recognised as worthy of a bid for a Henley Royal Regatta slot in July. Many here will be racing there on the Henley Reach in a month.
Crews qualified to attend and compete at USNationals by racing and qualifying at various state or regional regattas throughout the United States. This means USNationals represents all the states and regions, with the very fastest programmes and boats gathering to complete and race for a final time at Nathan Benderson Park, Sarasota, Florida, at the premier rowing facility in the US.
St. Mark’s School of Texas
Their quad had an equipment failure in regionals, but they were clearly in a strong position to win and qualify. St. Mark’s School of Texas has been building stronger and faster quads for several years. Coaches Lunsford Yandell, Joshua Friesen and Sean Lissemore are focused on athletic excellence and developing their athletes to excel. This quad has the boat speed to “turn some heads” and not just qualify for Finals but be on the podium Sunday. Do not underestimate.
Malvern Preparatory School
Winner of the SRAA (Scholastic Rowing Association of America) last month and a deep, talented, well-coached programme, Malvern Preparatory School will be in the mix of A Finalists after the time trials. Coach James Konapka has the reputation with both his domestic and international experiences to have his athletes ready on race day. The real challenge will be Sunday’s A-finals. This crew is impressive and will find a way to be on the podium Sunday.
Los Gatos Rowing Club
Los Gatos Rowing Club excels in both sweeps and sculls and is gaining a reputation for creating exceptional performances on the national stage. They gained international experience at Henley Royal Regatta, reaching the quarterfinal round, and will leverage that knowledge in this championship. Coach Channing Walker and his athletes train relentlessly for exceptional performance. They are deep in talent and boat speed: winners of the 2025 San Diego Crew Classic in April and Sculling Points trophy at Southwest Regionals in May. They just get faster. A podium finish is a real possibility this weekend.
Texas Rowing Center
The largest programme in Texas (everything is bigger in Texas), TRC is deep in talent and has a reputation as a well-coached, highly competitive youth programme. Winners of the USRowing Central Youth Quad by 11 seconds, they demonstrated their speed and race acumen. This may be the breakout year for Texas Rowing Center on the national stage.
Prediction
This will be a highlight race for everyone in attendance. With this many outstanding quads and programmes, the race will be decided in the last half and the final sprints. These quads can sustain higher than 36 stroke rates down the entire race course. The difference will be high-performance conditioning, sustained perfect stroke synchronisation and old-fashioned grit. My final call is as follows: Malvern Preparatory School followed by Los Gatos Rowing Club and St. Mark’s School of Texas.
About The Author
Discover more from JRN
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
