They raced their time trial on Saturday finishing 5th of 14 boats. This qualified them for the Final, but they knew they had work to do. They needed to step it up in the Final if they were going to medal. They had had close finishes all year and they were determined not to get shut out.
On Sunday, they were fired up. They wanted this. They raced their Final 2 beats higher than their time trial to ensure they would stay with the field. But, off the start, they were 5th again. They then moved into 4th and then battled for 3rd for the rest of the race – going stroke for stroke for almost 1,000 meters. With 200 meters to go, they brought the rate up and dropped their split to earn bronze by less than 1 second. This was racing at its finest and showed that success isn’t always golden. Success is coming off the water knowing you gave it everything you had.
Our U 17 8+ consisted of Freshmen and Sophomores Valeria Gomez, Noa Elbahri, Alex Morales, Agustina Alsogaray, Stella Toro, Savannah Coombs, Isabella Kais, Camila Masias and Gianna Gramanzini. These girls worked very hard all year long and had fantastic attitudes. Their work ethic certainly paid off. We cannot wait to see what their future holds!