Manatee's rowing program shines at Sarasota 5000

By Nick Williams
nwilliams@bradenton.com

The Manatee Youth Rowing Program is off to a fresh start for the 2012 fall rowing season.

Manatee, Southeast and Palmetto High teams combined for two gold medals, four silver medals and three bronze at the Sarasota 5000 Regatta in Osprey this past Sunday. Nearly 100 high school and club teams entered the race.

Southeast High's men's 4 novice (Austin Teaford, Krishna Muhundan, Kaden Henslick, Connor Yaryura - coxswain Coral Nimz) won a gold medal, as did Palmetto women's varsity 8 (Brandi Achenbach, Erin Monaghan, Brooke Mailloux, Stephanie Brouwer, Shelby Falsetti, Sammie Theising, Hannah McCoullough, Colleen Monaghan - coxswain Callie Bedford). Manatee High's women's single rower Jennifer Zebrackitook silver while Manatee's men's double boat (Alex Martinez and Jarrett Tsai) won the bronze.

Palmetto won seven medals overall, which included silver medals in the mixed novice 4 (Ryan Chastain, Callie Bedford, Crystal Chouinard, Josh Dawson), men's varsity 8 (Luke Myhree, Grant Fletcher, Trevor Lovett, Todd Chastain, Jerome Robinson, Clayton Flournoy, Gus Brouwer, Beau Wessel - coxswain Emily Whisenant), men's varsity 4 (Luke Myhree, Grant Fletcher, Trevor Lovett, Todd Chastain - coxswain Emily Whisenant) and women's varsity 4 'A' (Brandi Achenbach, Erin Monaghan, Brooke Mailloux, Stephanie Brouwer - coxswain Callie Bedford) and bronze medals in the men's novice 8 (Kaler Turenne, Courtland Higgins, Ryan Chastain, Tyler Gingras, Michael Reyna, Christian Brunger, Jacob Gwynn, Peter Myhree - Coxswain Chase Bafia) and women's varsity 4 'B' (Lauren Bedford, Hannah McCoullough, Addie Pratico, Jackie Roberts - coxswain Colleen Monaghan).

"When the kids started their fall season, they came prepared to train and how hard they trained showed  in this regatta," said Trish Jackson, program director.

The program will next compete in the Head of the Indian Creek regatta in Miami on Oct. 14.

Nearly two dozen Manatee youths, from middle to high school, participated in the The Long Skinny Boat Camp summer program just months ago in preparation for the 2012-2013 season.

In April, the Manatee youth rowing program made history at the Florida Scholastic Rowing Championships when four boats from Palmetto High qualified for the Scholastic Rowing National Championships in Camden, N.J.