Newport Sea Base rowing wins second national title, continues to blossom

The five teenagers in the Newport Sea Base junior rowing men’s youth 4-+ boat came into the USRowing Youth National Championships brimming with confidence.

Coxswain Taryn Graves, the lone female in the boat, explained why. Spoiler: an undefeated season was a big reason.

“We felt so confident going into it, because we just knew the work that we had put in the entire year,” Graves said. “It was a boat of seniors, except for one guy. Every single stroke was just to get past that finish line first.”

Mission accomplished, as Newport Sea Base finished the 2,000-meter race in 6 minutes, 36.35 seconds — nearly four seconds ahead of the second-place team from Northern California.

Graves and Cooper Sitzman (stroke seat) are both recent Newport Harbor High graduates. Corona del Mar graduate Pierce Edwards, Pacifica Christian Orange County graduate Cooper Larkin and Pacifica Christian incoming junior Parker Johnson (bow seat) made up the rest of the winning quintet.

Coxswain Taryn Graves, Parker Johnson, Cooper Larkin, Pierce Edwards and Cooper Sitzman, left to right, compete at the USRowing Youth National Championships.

(Courtesy of Newport Sea Base)

With that, Newport Sea Base had its second national championship in program history after crossing that finish line first on June 9. They joined the men’s youth 4x boat, featuring Newport Harbor alumni and twins Clay and Sean Rybus, which won the national title in 2022.

“Really, the club restarted in 2018, and then COVID happened,” said coach James Long-Lerno, who’s also the club’s executive director. “It’s not only our second, but our second since [the pandemic] ended. It’s pretty good results, for such a short period of time.”

Long-Lerno sees the Newport Sea Base boys eventually building a powerhouse, similar to what rival Newport Aquatic Center has accomplished on the girls’ side. Graves, Sitzman and Edwards actually transferred from NAC for their final year of high school eligibility.

Edwards called the boat a group of “scrappy guys,” noting that some competitors were bigger in stature. Graves, who will continue in the University of Tennessee women’s rowing program, is the only one of the five who plans to row in college.

“For me, it was proving to myself that I knew my value,” Edwards said. “Being able to finish my rowing career winning nationals, there’s no greater feat in the rowing world. It was really special. It makes every sacrifice that I’ve made — missing graduations, missing my friends’ birthday parties, every single Friday night going to bed at 8 o’clock — it made everything worth it at the end.”

Newport Sea Base’s Pierce Edwards, Cooper Sitzman, Taryn Graves and Cooper Larkin, left to right, celebrate their national championship.

(Courtesy of Newport Sea Base)

Graves would agree with that sentiment. As the coxswain, she had to be the female ordering males around, which is not always an easy task.

“Especially being on the men’s team, it was a very tedious role, having to boss around guys who are a foot taller than you,” she said. “You just have to learn how to get respect. You’re basically a mini-coach in the boat.”

Sitzman is headed to the University of Alabama for school.

“Just being able to finish off my rowing career winning a national championship is the best feeling,” he said. “The team’s expanding and they’ve got a pretty big future ahead of them.”

Newport Sea Base’s Riley Gutzwiller, Sophia Glass-Vendetti, Abella Levassiur, Riley Kwan and coxswain Zarah Gilani, left to right, placed second at the Youth Nationals in the women’s U16 4x+ boat.

(Courtesy of Newport Sea Base)

Indeed, Long-Lerno said the team brought a youth 8+ boat to Youth Nationals for the first time this year, meaning the boys in the youth 4+ boat had to pull double duty.

“With the doubling up and the heat, it was a pretty impressive result by those boys and by Taryn, the coxswain, to keep their composure,” he said. “The mission was to do just enough to get to the next race, and in the finals to go ahead and gun it.”

The boys didn’t have all the fun. The Newport Sea Base women’s Under-16 4x+ boat earned silver at Youth Nationals, with coxswain Zarah Gilani and boat-mates Riley Kwan, Abella Levassiur, Sophia Glass-Vendetti and Riley Gutzwiller crossing the finish line in 8:04.12.

Newport Aquatic Center, which came into the season-ending regatta with high hopes for its girls’ program, had its women’s youth boat finish a program-best second place with Alex Pearson in the stroke seat. The 2V eight boat, with Sydney Harris in the stroke seat, took third place.

The Newport Sea Base junior rowing team.

(Courtesy of Newport Sea Base)