Youth Nationals Predictions

[photofinish]

Ok ok, I'll start it. But first, let me put in a little aside. Eons ago, I was drawn to this platform as a high school rower for all the juicy gossip about junior crews on this forum. Now that I'm on the periphery of the sport as an old fogey, checking back in here gets me excited to see what's going on around junior rowing which, to be honest I found orders of magnitude more fun than elite college racing in my time as an athlete. I'm sad to see those sorts of discussions don't really happen much anymore. Maybe the kids have all moved on to flashier platforms like r/rowing or... tik tok? Who knows. But I'll do my best to restart the conversation here in the hopes of rekindling some of that youthful joy.

As for youths coming up, the most interesting things I'm looking forward to are:
1. Seeing if Isaiah Harrison really is the second coming of Jesus and the future savior of USA rowing in the 1x.
2. A surprisingly fast field in the men's youth 8+ despite the lack of participation from major west coast teams. Looks like SJP is the front runner, but I'm pretty excited to see if Chicago is a legitimate dark horse in this race.

[FullSend]

Not super sold on Prep, they won Stotes by like 3s (if I recall correctly). History has shown that's not the sort of margin that even gets you in the finals at Youths in a normal year.

That said, this is hardly a normal field with much more limited west coast entries and who knows how much those California crews have actually gotten to row/race together.

I really don't understand why Prep doesn't race SRAA this year. It's in Philly, and it's not like they've won it a million times and it's old news.

[rowing]

Not super sold on Prep, they won Stotes by like 3s (if I recall correctly). History has shown that's not the sort of margin that even gets you in the finals at Youths in a normal year.

That said, this is hardly a normal field with much more limited west coast entries and who knows how much those California crews have actually gotten to row/race together.

I really don't understand why Prep doesn't race SRAA this year. It's in Philly, and it's not like they've won it a million times and it's old news.

Looks like Prep made the right call.

[fullmetal]

SRAAs were a debacle by any measure. Respect to Central Catholic for giving their 1st place gear to St. Alban's. You don't see that kind of sportsmanship often.

[str8four]

I really don't understand why Prep doesn't race SRAA this year. It's in Philly, and it's not like they've won it a million times and it's old news.

I would have guessed that it had something to do with their academic schedule (like finals or graduation), or the volume of racing travel this spring (Overpeck Park, St. Andrews, Mercer 2x, and now Sarasota), or that they shifted to training for 2,000 m, or that the SRAAs was "the same old crews" they had already raced and beat this spring. Any, or all of that, makes sense. Then I heard that the Prep coach has/had a beef with an official who runs the SRAAs, so he decided to skip a race they normally attend. That could also make sense, but I hope it is not true.

Either way SJP should be a favorite entering this weekend. But it is so hard to judge relative high school speed from coasts to coasts in most years, let alone this year.

[rowing]

Then I heard that the Prep coach has/had a beef with an official who runs the SRAAs, so he decided to skip a race they normally attend. That could also make sense, but I hope it is not true.

True, but backwards. Everyone at SRAA has a problem with the Prep coach. He's not the hug me type.

[lt.wolf]

What about the crew from White Rock Rowing? Heard they row well , fit and strong, rumored they picked up a couple of solid rowers from California due to the pandemic and the coach is all in on Pocock

[fullmetal]

White Rock as in Dallas, TX? I didn't see huge results at central districts from them. Top 2 finishes: JM U17 4+, JW U17 4+, JM 4-, JW novice 8+.
https://herenow.com/results/#/races/20885/results

[lt.wolf]

How is the 4- , hearing U23 .

[sandor]

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[rowing]

Of course they haven't made any efforts to improve since then, right???

[sandor]

Of course they haven't made any efforts to improve since then, right???

A 4- 2nd place by 7 seconds at a regional championship to a promising U23 contender in 6 weeks?
Sure.

[lt.wolf]

I heard they might be quick, that was all. Darn prediction threads

[Cowbells123]

For time trials, what place is needed to progress? 1-20?

[Sarge]

top 12 to A/B semis
13-19 to Final c
20-26 to final D

A/B finals 6 boat races
C and D finals are 7 boat races