Several young women from Pacific Palisades made indelible impressions in crew over the summer, finishing ninth in the country in the Varsity 8 event at the United States Rowing Youth National Championships.
Competing as members of the Marina del Rey-based club Marina Aquatic Center Junior Rowing, they qualified for Nationals by claiming a bronze medal at the Southwest Regional Championships on Folsom’s Lake Natoma in May, then returned a month later to compete for a national title. Their event was won by the Bay Area’ Oakland Strokes.
It was the first time Marina Aquatic Center appeared in the Varsity 8 after successes in the pair, coxed four and quadruple sculls.
Palisades High was well-represented in the 9-person crew (Olympic style rowing) by coxswain Gabriella Vavala, 7-seat Katherine Armstrong and 4-seat Sydney Shannon, with local resident and Marymount High senior Melissa Schem in the bow seat.
They saved their best effort for the final, when they mounted one of their trademark come-from-behind finishes to nip Connecticut-based national power Saugatuck Rowing Club in the last 100 meters to take ninth place in the 2,000-meter race.
Coach Zohar Abramovitz expressed his pride in the team after the race. “This is such a special group of athletes,” he said. “They never stopped working, never stopped believing, never stopped looking for that next level. They’ve been mission focused from the first day of the season and it’s great to see it pay off for them the way it did. What they’ve done here in our first appearance in this event is remarkable and they’ve set the bar high for future generations of MAC athletes.”
All four women are freshmen in college this fall. Shannon is at Michigan, Armstrong will row at the University of Massachusetts, Schem will row for USC and Vavala will cox at UC Berkeley.
— Steve Galluzzo
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