The Junior girls crew from the ZLAC boat house at 1111 Pacific Beach Drive are taking their strong showings in their last two regattas on Mission Bay and at the Long Beach Marine Stadium and their hopes to Sacramento this weekend for the Southwest Regional Championships.
In their last two outings the 13- through 18-year-old athletes brought home the celebrations of their success wearing a lot of gold, silver and bronze.
“We’ve had an outstanding year ” a lot of fun,” said ZLAC volunteer coordinator Wyndham Jackson. “We are all really proud of the success they have earned.”
Since the Crew Classic in early April, the junior girls crew from the historic all-women’s rowing club has been busy with daily practice after school.
The top lightweight 4-person crew finished first among five boats to bring home the gold medals from the SoCal Cup II which was held on East Mission Bay April 15.
The champion crew includes Briar Carpenter (Point Loma High School), Jesi Bennett, Sarah Jackson, Megan DeCort and Maureen Alcock, who were led by head coach Dana Ryan.
The freshman 4-person crew finished second in their final race while the varsity boat finished third.
In one of the highlights of the season, the ladies brought home two gold medals from the Long Beach Junior Invitational Regatta which features teams from throughout California and Arizona.
In the 1,400-meter race, the lightweight 4-person crew repeated their victory with a first place finish over Los Gatos Rowing Club, Xavier Crew, Newport Aquatic Center and Oakland Strokes.
ZLAC varsity two-person crew made up of Bennett and Jackson earned silver medals behind Rio Salado Rowing Club while beating Long Beach and Stanford Rowing Center.
In the girls singles championship race Krista Rindell brought home the bronze medal in the six-boat final.
The lightweight eight-person crew also earned a bronze for Carpenter, Bennett, Liz Felando (Point Loma High School), Rindell, Emily Hill, Alcock, Megan DeCort and sisters Sarah and Kelsey Jackson.
The lightweight four-person crew is undefeated this season and looking for a top showing this weekend at the Southwest Regional Regatta just east of Sacramento at Lake Natoma on the American River. They could qualify for the National Finals in Cincinnati, Ohio.
“The girls are all excited about the regionals in Sacramento,” Jackson added. “We have a chance to do very well. It should be a great weekend.”
ZLAC is an acronym for the names of the women who founded the rowing club in 1892 on Mission Bay. It is the oldest women’s athletic club in the country, formed in response to the formerly men’s only San Diego Rowing Club started a few years earlier.
Crew is a tradition-filled amateur sport that provides fitness while creating team camaraderie and competitive spirit.
ZLAC has produced three Olympic champions and many National Team participants. Junior members are often recruited by top universities and great numbers of young women have gone on to earn college scholarships. Nearly any girl with good grades coming out of a quality junior crew program like ZLAC can earn a college scholarship.
ZLAC offers junior summer camp programs in June, July and August for girls 13 through 18 years old. The program introduces girls to the fitness and fun, water safety and boat handling among friends. The camps run every day for two weeks.
The competitive Junior Crew team is built out of the girls from all over the county who are introduced to the sport at the summer camps.
For more information, visit www.ZLAC.org.