Rowing: NAC novice teams shine at San Diego Crew Classic

The Newport Aquatic Center’s Novice boys’ and girls’ eights won in the inaugural year of their events at the prestigious San Diego Crew Classic this past weekend.

The San Diego Crew Classic, in its 42nd year, brought crews from across the country, Canada and Mexico together to compete for two days on a 2,000-meter race course in Mission Bay.

The NAC varsity boys continued to demonstrate the depth and strength of their team, by placing third in the varsity eight out of 21 crews and second in the JV8 out of 16 crews. These finishes put them as one of the top ranked crews nationally.

The NAC varsity girls Lightweight 8 finished a close second in a wire-to-wire battle with Long Beach junior crew, also improving its rank nationally.

The NAC Novice boys featured: coxswain Natasha Ellis, stroke Frank Choumas, Will Warwick, Jason Goode, Blake Richter, Caleb O’Neil, Chad Kanner, Ian Detweiler and Parker Monroe.

The NAC Novice girls featured: coxswain Shannon Nelson, stroke Stephanie Daboub, Peyton Matthews, Kara Bray, Savanah Hapsic, Ashley Coon, Natalie Lowenstein, Bridget Shoenberger and Sophie Blair.

— Reader submission