Vero Girls Row to Nationals

Just over two years ago a Junior from Vero Beach wanted her school to have a girls rowing team.  After getting the blessing of the Indian River Rowing Club she set out to recruit 12 other girls to form the very first Vero Beach High School Rowing Team.  Today, despite the Indian River Rowing Club's support and generous donations from the community, the team still lacks many of the standard rowing necessities that most successful programs have.  With no boathouse, the girls row out of a shipping container under a bridge along the Indian River Lagoon. Some of the boats they use are even older than the girls who row them--"antiques" in the rowing community. Their training equipment (ergometers)  is speckled with rust from the salt air. However, despite these challenges, the girls were up to the task of starting a winning tradition for their community!

During their first year of rowing,  the girls competed as Novice rowers and exceeded expectations. They took home medals at every regatta during the 2015 Novice season which culminated with Florida Scholastic State Championship in the Freshman 4 event!


http://www.tcpalm.com/yournews/indian-river-county/vero-beach-high-freshman-rowing-team-wins-state-championship-ep-1081500280-340689351.html 

This year, their first year as a Varsity program, the VBHS girls team is made up of only 11 Varsity rowers.  But these powerful young women continued to make their mark on the rowing world.  Their preparation for the sprint 1500 meter racing season started during the winter training sessions where those same 11 girls set two world records for a continuous 24-hour row. (http://www.veronews.com/sports/prep/vero-high-rowers-set-new-world-indoor-records/article_3960be18-a990-11e5-a3f4-d3a4cf0bc02a.html ). 

The records can be viewed on the concept 2 webpage:  http://www.concept2.com/indoor-rowers/racing/records/ultra-distance/world/24-hours    


The training paid off!!!! During the 2016 Spring Sprint Season the girls continued to keep their medal streak alive bringing home medals from every race. The team took home Gold at the annual Opening Day Regatta in the JV 8 category, Bronze at the Orlando Invitational  in the Lightweight 8 event, and Gold medals in both the Girls Varsity Pair and Lightweight 8 at the annual Brevard Cup Regatta.


As the season progressed, the competiton got faster. These dedicated girls decided to put in extra hours before school (and before sunrise) to get an extra workout in to make their boats even faster. Again, the dedication paid off at the East Florida District Regatta where the Girls Varsity Pair took home the school's first District Championship, while the Girls Lightweight 8 brought home Silver! 


Just a few days ago, the girls competed in the annual Florida State Rowing Championship in Sarasota.  100% of the Varsity Girls came home a decorated State Champion. The Girls Pair took home Silver, while the Girls Lightweight 8 brought home Bronze. Furthermore, since the Lightweight 8 was the first High School team to cross the finish line they also took home the program's 2nd Scholastic State Championship in two years!!! 


Now all eyes are set on the Post Season. Our Varisty Pair is currently training to compete in the Southeast Regional competiton to earn a bid to race at Nationals, while the Lightweight 8 is training to compete at the world's largest high school regatta, the National Stotesbury Cup. 

http://m.veronews.com/sports/prep/crews-control-rowing-is-growing-at-vbhs/article_b6a03422-0c81-11e6-8fa7-8709a84769ea.html?mode=jqm 



Both regattas are expensive and represent extra costs beyond the teams annual dues. The team will have to pay for hotels, food, transportation, regatta fees, and airfare....So we are asking our community and supporters for a little more help.  These 11 powerful young women are committed to represent their team and community at the National level.  However, post-season racing, and travel will cost about $10,000. Our Hometown Heroines are looking for a few community Angels to help them make it to the end.  All donations will be directly applied to the costs born by the girls who are going to race at these events.  Thank you for your support.