On Feb 26th and 27th, the Tulsa Youth Rowing Association traveled down to Austin, TX to compete at the Heart of Texas regatta hosted by the Austin Rowing Club. On the first day of racing the girl’s novice quad composed of Emory Oakes, Julia Krutz, Caroline Briggs, and Teagan Castleberry raced hard in the qualifying heat to earn a spot in the final that afternoon. In the final, the girl’s quartet rowed to a respectable fifth-place finish among the most competitive sculling programs in the region.
During the second day of racing in the morning the TYRA girls novice four composed of Emory Oakes, Julia Krutz, Taylor Korb, Hailey Hieger and Amari Balandran (Cox) competed and rowed to a second-place finish in the heat earning them a place in the final that afternoon. TYRA rose to the occasion in the final that afternoon and won the bronze medal in a close race with Parati and also beating crews from Austin, and the Texas Rowing Center.
Lincoln Christian student Emory Oakes stroke seat of the bronze medal crew said, “The Heart of Texas Regatta was such a fun and challenging opportunity for TYRA. It was a great learning experience for some of us that haven’t done spring sprint races. We raced hard in spite of the cold weather and it was really rewarding to see our hard work in winter training pay off by placing in the finals!”
“Racing in Austin at the Heart of Texas regatta is always fun. For starters, it’s a 1000m course so the kids get so many opportunities to race and try out new lineups,” said TYRA Head Coach Tino Angelini. “This year was still fun; however, it was more challenging than I remember from previous years because of the weather and some stiff competition. Working around a snow and ice storm that reached as far south as Dallas was challenging, but the team and parents worked so well together that we were all able to make it down to Austin. The weather on Friday and Saturday made racing a challenge, let alone staying warm and dry! However, everything cleared up on Sunday, and we buckled in for what felt like an awesome day for racing from the get-go. Our last race of the day, the Women’s Novice 4+ had such an exciting race, fighting bow ball to bow ball with other crews and not giving an inch for an impressive, and well-deserved third-place finish!”
The team is currently preparing for the USRowing Central Youth Championship which will be held in OKC on May 7th and 8th. The TYRA team is working hard to earn bids for the National Youth Championship Regatta which will be held in Sarasota, FL starting on June 9th.
Those interested in joining the team can check out our June 2022 summer camp offerings below.
TYRA June 2022 Summer Camp Information
You must be logged in to post a comment.