Emotions flow on USRowing Youth Nationals' final day in Sarasota

By Jay Heater
| 5:30 p.m. June 14, 2026

Inglemoor High School rowers Krista Alyakin and Karlie Vince made a splash by winning the Women's Youth 2- class at the USRowing Junior National Championships on Sunday at Nathan Benderson Park.

East County
Sports

Through the first three days of competition in the USRowing Junior Nationals at Nathan Benderson Park in Sarasota, most of the approximately 4,000 competitors kept every emotion under wraps.

Every race was the chance to have one more race to keep alive the dream of a high finish at the nationals. But on Sunday, when the task was finished, win or lose, the emotions flowed. A year's worth of work had led up to that final day.

So in the final day's first race — the men's youth 1x — Simeon John of Boston's Community Rowing was ready to launch his own celebration after he crushed the field to win the event's first national title. The only thing stopping him was that his body wouldn't cooperate.

Pushing his body to the absolute limit left him overheated and unable to raise his arms. He slipped off the side of his boat to take a victory dunk and cool himself down, then pulled himself up on his boat until the safety crew of volunteers arrived to take him to the first aid station.

After about 15 minutes, he was recovered, basking in the glow of victory.

All the victors to follow celebrated in their own way, some crying tears of victory, or screaming at the top of their lungs, or hugging their teammates.

Sarasota Crew didn't earn any national title trophies this year, but the Sarasota A team did win the bronze medal in the Men's U16 8+ division. The team of Sichen Deng, Jackson Lizotte, Miles Cuff, Platon Shramko, Elliott Mathes, Everett Chappell, Caiden Moskowitz, Jan Stachovec and coxswain James Woods missed the silver medal by half a second.

The Sarasota Men's U17 8+ team of Iouri Marcel, Meyer Sachs, Parker Morrison, Enzo Francisco, Jordan Grose, Jacob Mains, Will Lindell, Victor Kozlovsky and coxswain Olivia Twarowski made the finals and finished seventh.

The other Sarasota teams to reach the finals were the Women's U17 8+ team of Aubree DeCraene, Audrey Reuter, Maya Jewell, Gabrielle Davis, Isabella De Liz, Sydney Soboleski, Shai Mitzafon, Rose Ottaviano and coxswain Lillian Teague that finished eighth, and the Womens’s 2V8+ boat which also placed eighth in the country. That boat was made up of Rose Ottaviano, Shai Mitzafon, Samara Broadway, Isabella DeLiz, Gabrielle Davis, Maya Jewell, Lizabeth Derrick, Brianna Qeraj, and Coxswain Allison Kim.

Cambridge Boat Club's Catherine Cole and Emma Kirk are overwhelmed after their triumph in the USRowing Junior National Championships Women's Youth 2x race at Nathan Benderson Park on Sunday.

Boston's Simeon John of Community Rowing celebrates his title in the USRowing Junior National Championships Sunday at Nathan Benderson Park in Sarasota. Would Nathan Benderson Park be around if Sarasota County didn't have access to property taxes?

Community Rowing's Simeon John was so overcome with heat and exhaustion following his title run Sunday at Nathan Benderson Park that safety workers had to take him to the first aid station.

After 15 minutes of recovery from heat exhaustion following his title winning race on Sunday at Nathan Benderson Park, Community Rowing's Simeon John was able to handle his boat quite easily.

A view from the Nathan Benderson Park finish tower on Sunday during the finals of the USRowing Junior National Championships.

The champions at the USRowing Junior National Championships would have to clear major space on their shelves at home.

Thousands of rowing fans had one final chance to buy USRowing Junior National Championship bling on Sunday.

D.C. National Rowing celebrates a national title in the Women's Youth 4+ class Sunday at Nathan Benderson Park in the USRowing Junior National Championships.

author

Jay Heater

Jay Heater is the managing editor of the East County Observer. Overall, he has been in the business more than 41 years, 26 spent at the Contra Costa Times in the San Francisco Bay area as a sportswriter covering college football and basketball, boxing and horse racing.