Merion Mercy’s Lightweight 4+ Wins Gold at USRowing Youth National Championships

Merion Station >> Merion Mercy Academy crew head coach Mike Brown knew he had something special in MMA’s Lightweight 4+, as they had already won national gold medals at the Stotesbury Cup and SRAA National Scholastic regattas with a seasoned crew of seniors Izzie Begley, Taylor Gregitis, Erin Welch, and Cece Wendel coxing, with junior Phoebe DeVlieger in stroke.
On June 8-9, competing in the USRowing Youth National Championships, Merion Mercy Academy’s rowers prevailed, earning gold in the third leg of the Triple Crown and establishing MMA’s Lightweight 4+ as the fastest boat in the country. At USRowing Youth Nationals, the competition consists primarily of teams representing a city with select athlete all stars pulled from the region. The USRowing Championships include 1,600 athletes competing in more than 350 crews, representing approximately 150 teams from across the country at Benderson Park in Sarasota-Bradenton, Fla. This site also hosted the 2017 World Rowing Championships. Typically, scholastic programs experience a lack of success competing against the clubs at USRowing Youth Nationals.
Going in as underdogs in the semifinals June 8, Merion Mercy Academy hung on to win their semifinal heat in what the site announcer called “the best race of the day.” The photo finish had them winning by only 0.14 seconds, with just a little over a second separating their boat from the next three boats – two from Seattle clubs and one from the powerhouse Saugatuck Boat Club in Connecticut.
The final on June 9 had less drama, despite facing the same two Seattle clubs who had pushed them so hard in the semi-finals. Merion Mercy Academy won wire-to-wire by over two seconds, with a time of 7:16:206. As Coach Mike Brown laid out in a text the night before, the boat was in “Jason Kelce underdog territory,” as Merion Mercy Academy was one of only three scholastic programs to make the women’s finals out of over 30 events.
His text finished with a statement that would be even truer after the finals: “108 boats will compete in 18 ‘A’ finals events on Sunday morning. Of the 18 events, nine are men’s and nine are women’s. Of the 54 women’s boats competing in the ‘A’ finals, only five are scholastic programs while 49 are clubs. Of the 30 finalists in the five women’s sweep events, only three are scholastic programs – one of which is your Merion Mercy Academy! Rare air, rare air indeed!”
MMA’s Lightweight 4+ now looks ahead to participating in Henley Women’s Regatta to compete for the Groton Cup.