Please join us on Friday August 4th and Sunday August 27th to check out what junior rowing is all about!
Winter Camps 2022/23
Please join us for our Winter Camp! This is a great chance for kids to explore the sport of rowing on Los Alamitos Bay in Long Beach over winter break. Most of our athletes who have gone on to row in college all over the country started at one of our learn-to-row camps just like these!
Head of the Charles 2021
We are pleased to report on a very successful effort at the 57th Head of the Charles regatta in Boston over the October 21-24 weekend.
LBJC was represented by 29 rowers and 4 coxswains including alternates Taylor Donato, Cecelia Mason, Maximillian Ryan, Christian Sandahl and Ezekiel Young. All told, LBJC rowers earned medals in 2 events!
First down the course was the Women’s Youth Coxed Quad with Charlotte Burnham, Samantha Hutchings, Sydney Perry, Sydney Macklin, and Breanna Pearlman (cox) that finished 8th out of 52 entries.
Next the Women’s Youth Eight with Tessa Griffin, Iza Gwizdak, Leah Short, Lynna Ov, Hailey Bergstrom, Sydney Chait-Walter, Olivia Aceves, Allegra Steege, and Annika Morallos (cox) finished 24th out of 76 entries and earned GOLD medals for finishing first for Under 17 entries!
Next the Men’s Youth Coxed Quad with Tate Griffin, Zach Hutchings, Nicolas Gonzalez, Charlie Josephbek, and Jake Bazulto (cox) finished in 5th place out of 47 entries and earned a 5th place medal. (Events with more than 40 entries provide for medals up to 5th place.)
Next the Men’s Youth Eight of Andrew Josephbek, Cooper Hemmings, Kian Price, Andrew Geller, Talon Guiterrez, Luka Singhal, Roan Hutton, Nathan Cheng, and Mitchell Cruz (cox) finished 59th out of 80 entries. This accomplishment was achieved with 2 Novice rowers and 2 first year Varsity that due to Covid, were racing for the first time.
Congratulations to the HOCR rowers and coxswains for an outstanding performance.
Nationals 2021 Recap
LBJC just returned from their first regatta since the pandemic began. Apart from a scrimmage, we had not officially raced on the water as a club since March 7th, 2020 when we hosted the Southern California League Cup at the Long Beach Marine Stadium.
The challenges of the last 15 months have been enormous. We should all be very proud about how we have successfully navigated these obstacles as a club. Last week’s successful racing at the 2021 USRowing Youth National Championships was a celebration of our club’s hard work and perseverance over the last 15 months. With the help of our board members, coaches, athletes and parents, the kids were able to continue to row at a national caliber level and serve as a shining example to the Long Beach community that we will continue to move forward no matter the challenge.
The 2021 USRowing Youth National Championships was unlike any other national championship regatta before it. For starters, usually each region in the country sends the top 3 boats in each event from their respective regional championships. This year with most regional regattas cancelled, entries were open to anyone. Secondly, there were no lightweight events, which LBJC has a long history of doing well in. Finally, there were U17 events in each boat class for the first time, giving the younger athletes a chance to make their mark earlier in their careers than before. All three of those changes combined with this being our first regatta in 15 months meant that our coaches were going to take a slightly different approach.
Both Coach Tom and Coach Weston saw the opportunity for balancing absolute performance with athlete development for the future.
In a typical year, LBJC would take a handful of boats to nationals. This year we took 11 boats, 5 men’s boats and 6 women’s boats. This was the largest nationals trip ever for LBJC with 39 athletes, including 5 novices who have never officially raced before. Hopes were high for some great performances but more importantly we were looking for some great racing experiences to set these athletes up for future success.
THURSDAY
The racing started on Thursday with 1900m time trials in all events. The racing progression was that the top 12 in each event from the time trials would go automatically to the semi-finals, places 13-19 would go to the C Final, places 20-26 to the D Final, and 27 and above would be eliminated after the time trial. Needless to say, the stakes were high starting on Day 1. There were boats going down the course in Time Trials in rapid succession.
LBJC’s first boat down the course was Andrew Josephbek in the Men’s Youth 1x. He finished a very respectable 17th out of 36, 6 seconds out of qualifying for the A/B semi. Not bad in a very competitive event. Next up was the Women’s Youth 2- of Lydia Dillion and Olivia Lestelle. They finished 14th out of 21 boats, missing the A/B semi by 2 spots. Both the single and the pair qualified directly to the C-Final on Saturday.
The Men’s Youth 2x of Kian Price and Jacob Padilla finished 46th in a time of 7:35.7. The guys looked sharp but finished outside of the top 26 spots. The doubles events were very competitive this year because of the amount of teams forced to scull due to covid. No matter the result, lining up with the best in the country takes guts and yields respect. The next race was the Women’s Youth 2x of Stella Cucu and Gabriella Schaub. They finished in 26th place, successfully snagging that last spot qualifying for the D final.
Finishing off the morning of racing were LBJC’s big boats: the Men’s and Women’s 4x’s, the Women’s 4-, and the Men’s 8+.
The Men’s 4x comprising Travis Infante, Jack Snow, Augustine Freijo, and Andrew Josephbek was the first of the big boats down the course. Jack and Augie are both 8th grade novices that were brought up to varsity only a week before leaving for Florida and this was their first official race. While the 4x did not qualify in the top 26, this was a great opportunity for the young guys to gain the experience for next year.
Next up was the Women’s 4x of Sydney Macklin, Sinead Quirke, Samantha Hutchings, and Charlotte Burnham. The crew had a great race finishing 10th out of 34 crews and became the first LBJC boat to qualify for the A/B Semi!
Now an example of how the coaches were juggling all sorts of challenges and ups and downs. Earlier in the day Coach Weston was made aware of two athletes in the Women’s 4- that had come down with what appeared to be food poisoning. So, two novices, Olivia Aceves and Leah Short, stepped up to have their first-ever racing experience, and at Nationals no less. With a rearranged lineup the Women’s 4- of Sydney Perry, Olivia, Leah, and Heidi Maxson did well to finish 16th and qualify for the C-Final despite having never rowed in that line up before. Just goes to show why bringing alternates on the trip is so important.
The final race of the morning was the LBJC Men’s 8+. Coxswain Jacob Bazulto, Charlie Josephbek, Brock Brandmeyer, Liam McDermott, Andrew Geller, Tate Griffin, Cooper Hemmings, Zachary Hutchings, and stroke Nick Gonzalez raced their hearts out and finished 21st out of 35 qualifying for the D final, just 8 seconds out of the A/B Semi.
On Thursday afternoon the first ever U17 events at Nationals were held. LBJC had three boats racing and Sydney Macklin was up first in the Women’s U17 1x. She had already been down the course in the 4x earlier in the day. She finished in 3rd place qualifying directly to the Semi Final, which was very impressive but not surprising if you know her.
Next down the course was the LBJC Men’s U17 4x of Travis Infante, Tate Griffin, Charlie Josephbek, and Nick Gonzalez. All four of these guys were doubling up and had already raced earlier in the day. The guys had a great piece finishing in 2nd place earning a spot in Friday’s semifinals.
The last race of the day was the Women’s U17 8+ of Annika Morallos, Lynna Ov, Allegra Steege, Hayley Bergstrom, Jade Steege, Sydney Chait-Walter, Taylor Donato, Izabella Gwizdak, and Tessa Griffin. The girls raced to a 3rd place finish in a solid time of 6:53 qualifying them directly for the semi.
Wow, that was a lot of races. Talk about a long day for the athletes, coaches and volunteers, especially considering the tremendous heat!
Well done everybody. There was nothing left to do but rehydrate, eat, and sleep. Onward to the Semis on Friday.
FRIDAY
The first race of the morning was the Sydney Macklin, Sinead Quirke, Samantha Hutchings, and stroke Charlotte Burnham in the Women’s 4x. The girls had arguably the race of the regatta for LBJC in this semifinal. After 500m, they were sitting in 5th place with just the Top 3 to go on to the A Final. At the halfway mark, our girls had pushed up and were now tied for 4th place with Texas. Then in the second half of the race the girls really made a statement. They put in a negative split which is extremely impressive at the junior level. The girls averaged 1:45.8 to the 1500m mark and then dropped to an astonishing 1:42.4(!) last 500m to move past perennial contender Maritime and into 3rd place and qualify for the A Final. Well done ladies! A little under an hour later Sydney Macklin was back on the water. This time in the Women’s U17 1x. Clearly still riding high from the 4x race, Sydney blasted off the start and led her race from start to finish. She qualified for the A Final on Saturday.
On Friday afternoon, the U17 Men’s 4x of Travis Infante, Tate Griffin, Charlie Josephbek, and stroke Nick Gonzalez kicked off racing with a commanding performance. They lead the entire race wire to wire and finished 1st in a time of 6:38.
The last race of the day was the Women’s U17 of Annika Morallos, Lynna Ov, Allegra Steege, Hayley Bergstrom, Jade Steege, Sydney Chait-Walter, Taylor Donato, Izabella Gwizdak, Tessa Griffin. The girls were sitting in last place after the first minute of racing and then began chipping away at the field. They moved throughout the piece: 5th at 500, 3rd at 1000m, and 2nd at 1500m. The girls clearly had the right mindset and fitness to get the job done. All in all, Friday was a great day with all 4 LBJC boats qualified for the “medal round”.
SATURDAY
On Saturday there were U17 finals in the morning and then C and D finals for the U19 events in the afternoon. First up was Sydney Macklin in the Women’s U17 1x. She raced fearlessly, getting out to an early lead and held on as long as she could. She was leading at the 1k mark and racing at an impressive 34 strokes per minute. Sydney held on to 2nd place and won a silver medal! Well done!
Next up was the U17 Men’s 4x. Unfortunately, during the start of the race the boat’s rudder cable broke and Travis, Tate, Charlie, and Nick had to wrestle their boat down course to keep it in their lane. Struggling to go straight, the guys did an amazing job considering the circumstances. With potential disaster looming, they somehow managed to hang on to 3rd place, just 0.2 seconds behind second, earning them a bronze medal. Phenomenal job men!
The last of the U17 Finals was the Women’s U17 8+. Similar to their semifinal, Annika, Lynna, Allegra, Hayley, Jade, Sydney, Taylor, Izabella, and Tessa were down early. At the 500m mark they were in 6th and then worked their way up through the field. By the finish line, they had passed Cincinnati and RowAmerica Rye and finished in 4th place just 2 seconds away from a medal in a time of 6:58. This was the best finish in the 8+’s events from any southwest team. Not bad for three 8th graders, wow!
Later in the morning the C and D finals for the U19 Youth events took place. First up for LBJC was Andrew Josephbek in the single. He was right in the thick of it the entire way down the course. At the halfway mark, all seven crews were overlapped with each other, less than 3 seconds apart. Andrew finished in 4th place in a time of 7:48, good enough for 4th in the C Final and 16th place overall. That is a very impressive result for such a competitive event. Many of the guys he was racing against are far and away the top in their region.
Next up was the Women’s 2-. Lydia and Olivia had an amazing race in their final. Keeping your cool in a boat with just two oars is a tough thing to do especially when you are down, but the girls did just that. They were 4 seconds down and in 4th place at 1000m, but they stuck to their race plan and out-rowed the other teams in the last half of the race. The girls went on to an impressive 3 second victory in the C final and 13TH place in the nation.
In the last race of Saturday morning, LBJC’s women’s 4- raced in the C final. This was the girls’ second race together with two novices filling in. Sydney, Olivia, Leah, and Heidi blasted off the start and were leading for the whole first half of the race. The girls reported that they may have let their adrenaline get the best of them and couldn’t keep up the pace- but in our opinion that’s just brave racing and we need more of it! The girls hung on to 3rd place, good enough for 15th in the nation. A very decent result considering the last minute line up change and this being the first regatta ever for half the boat, well rowed!
A few hours later in the afternoon our Women’s 2x raced in the D final. To give some context, Stella and Gabriella both used to be coxswains and have grown and developed a lot over the last two years. To be racing at Nationals is a great learning experience, but it was awesome to see them qualify for the D final out of 41 crews. They raced hard and well and crossed the line in 7th matching their 26th place from the Time Trial on Thursday. Well done ladies.
Our last race of the day was the big boys of LBJC, the Men’s 8+. Jacob, Charlie, Brock, Liam, Andrew, Tate, Cooper, Zachary, and Nick really rose to the occasion in their final race. At the halfway mark, Central Catholic was 4 seconds ahead of the rest of the field. Everybody else, including LBJC was within 1 second of each other. Six boats 1/3 of a boat length apart… That’s some good racing! At the 1500m mark, Milwaukee had pushed into 2nd place and LBJC was in a 3-way tie for third. Then our boys exploded. They ended their Nationals experience by dropping the hammer and having an epic sprint. They dropped a 1:33.7 last 500m, the fastest last 500 of the race. Not only did they emerge victorious from the 3-way battle, but they sprinted ahead of Milwaukee in the last 250m to take 2nd place, 21st overall. In the heat of battle they also closed the gap on first place to only one second. Great racing men, way to finish it off.
SUNDAY
Sunday’s schedule had the U19 A and B Finals in the morning and then teams would pack up and head out in the afternoon. LBJC’s only race on Sunday was the Women’s 4x. Charlotte, Samantha, Sinead, and Sydney did very well to make the A final with their amazing sprint in the semifinal. In a really competitive field the girls hung with the pack for most of the race and finished in 6th place in the A final. 6th overall is an accomplishment to be very proud of- especially for being mostly a lightweight boat in an event known for power and size. The boat is returning 3 out of 4 girls next year and the experience of being in the A final with the top girls in the country will be a huge benefit for next season. Well rowed ladies!
The final challenge on Sunday was loading the trailer. Our fearless trailer driver, AC DuPont, hauls boats for many of the southwest teams. Special thank you to him for all his hard work and expertise. Also special shout out to some of the guys who really put in extra effort to help AC load everybody’s boats on the trailer: Kian, Brock, Nick, Zach, Tate, Andrew, and Charlie.
After the trailer was loaded, the team was able to cut loose and hit the beach for some fun in the waves and little football! We are proud to report that everybody made their flights and made it home safe and sound. A special thanks to Vanessa Quirke and Olga and Eric Josephbek for being team chaperones and making everything run smoothly in Sarasota.
After navigating the tremendous challenges over the past year, it’s no surprise that LBJC pulled off a successful campaign in Sarasota. Despite having issues like a food poisoning and a broken rudder to deal with, the athletes were resilient, stayed focused, and turned in some very impressive results. We are incredibly proud of everyone.
Well done LBJC! Thank you seniors! See everybody else for summer conditioning!
Sincerely,
The LBJC Coaching Staff
Summer Camp 2021
Long Beach Junior Crew’s 2021 Summer Camps will run from every two weeks from June 14- August 20! Please visit the “camps” tab above in our menu for the registration packet.
2020 USRowing Virtual Youth National Championships
LBJC had 15 athletes compete in the first ever USRowing Virtual National Championships. LBJC had three men’s boats entered and three women’s boats. Highlighting LBJC’s efforts was the Women’s Lightweight 2x of Isabela Camerino and Jasmine Macklin who WON their event and are 2020 USRowing Virtual National Champions! In addition to that, the Women’s Freshmen 4x of Allegra Steege, Taylor Donato, Hayley Bergstrom, and Lilyanne Morse finished second, earning a silver medal. Congrats LBJC!
Women’s Lightweight 2x Results: https://www.regattacentral.com/regatta/results2/eventResults.jsp?job_id=7058&event_id=1
Women’s Freshmen 4x Results: https://www.regattacentral.com/regatta/results2/eventResults.jsp?job_id=7058&event_id=15
Cal Cup 2020 Schedule
Revised President’s Day Schedule
President’s Day Regatta
2019 Nationals
Long Beach Junior Crew competed at the 2019 USRowing Youth National Championships in Sarasota, FL on June 6 – 9. In order to qualify for this regatta, crews from all over the country had to place in the top three in their respective qualifying regional championships.
More than 1,500 athletes in 350 boats from 150 teams qualified from 12 different Regional Qualifier Regattas. LBJC was fortunate to qualify three boats for the National Championships: The Women’s Lightweight Double (WL2X), the Men’s Lightweight Double (ML2X), and the Men’s Quad (M4X).
The team arrived in Florida on Tuesday in preparation for Time Trials on Thursday. This is the first year that the Nationals was pushed out to a 4 day regatta as opposed to the usual 3 day format. On Thursday, there were Time Trials held for all events. Each boat was sent down the course one after the other and clocked from start to finish. This style of racing can be difficult because during the race the athletes do not know how they are doing relative to their competition. They must race all out and hope they have enough speed to make it to the next round. The race progression was the top eight or nine crews advancing directly to the Semi Finals on Saturday, while the remaining boats would go to a Repechage (second chance race) on Friday. First up for LBJC was the Men’s Lightweight 2x of Logan Chakos and Zachary Friedrichs. After having won the Southwest Regionals, our guys race a solid time trial and finishing in 8th place, snagging the last qualifying spot by 0.6 secs to advance directly to the Semis! Next up was the Women’s Lightweight 2x of Charlotte Burnham and Ella Scales. The girls finished in 11thjust 3 seconds shy of qualifying directly for the Semis.
After that, the Men’s 4x of Isaac Medina, Cooper DeRudder, Andrew Mathison, and stroke Benjamin Chait-Walter finished in 10th place just 0.9 seconds out of qualifying directly to the Semis. All in all, these were very solid performances across the board for LBJC in the time trials. On Friday, the Women’s Lightweight Double was up first racing in the 2nd of 3 repechages. The progression was pretty cutthroat, Top 1 to Advance. The girls turned in a blistering time of 7:47.7 and finished just 0.6 secs behind Seattle Preparatory School. The girls should be extremely proud of this race as they beat crosstown rivals RowLA by 40 seconds. The girls showed tremendous improvement since the Regional Championships a month earlier. Their 2nd place finish qualified them for C final (places 13-18).
Next up was the Men’s Quad. In a must win race, Ben, Andrew, Cooper, and Isaac really put the hammer down leading from start to finish. They finished in a time of 6:20.5, their fastest time of the year and qualified for the Semifinal. LBJC’s first race on Saturday was the ML2X Semifinal. This was truly a nail-biter of a race. Zach and Logan needed to place top 3 to qualify for the final on Sunday. With 500m to go, they were in 4th place and 2 seconds behind the next boat. With everything on the line, Logan and Zach sprinted like madmen and melted not one but two boats. They sprinted through Pocock and then kept going through Belen Jesuit Crew. They finished in 2ndplace and qualified for the A final on Sunday. Just amazing.
Next, the LBJC Men’s 4x raced in their semi final. The guys raced well but finished in 6th place, two lengths out of qualifying for the A final. Their final race would be the B final on Sunday (places 7-12).
The last race on Saturday for LBJC was the Women’s Lightweight 2x C final. The girls raced their hearts out and rowed very well. They finished in 3rd place after aggressively pushing into the top two boats the whole way down the course. You can watch their whole Final race (bow #3) here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6945F1IBO8&feature=youtu.be&t=289m12sThe girls performed very well and finished 15th in the country. Well rowed ladies! On Sunday, we had LBJC’s final two races, the Final A for the ML2X and Final B for the M4x. First up was the lightweight 2x of Zach and Logan. This race was for all the marbles. You can watch the entire race here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvwPnAcJQw8&feature=youtu.be&t=33m23sLast year Zach and Logan finished 5th at nationals. This year, they were 8th in the time trial and had the 5thfastest time in the semifinals. The guys knew they would need a big effort if they wanted to realize their dream of medaling at Nationals. Zach and Logan delivered big time and took destiny into their own hands. They pushed incredibly hard in the 1st 1km to put themselves in 2nd place and then rowed a gutsy last 1km to chase down Seattle in 1st and push away from Belen Jesuit in 3rd. It was an amazing performance and awesome to see these young men cap off a great career at LBJC with a Silver Medal and a personal record of 6:47! Well rowed gents! The last race of Nationals for LBJC was the Men’s Quad. Their B final can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvwPnAcJQw8&feature=youtu.be&t=214m00sThis was a great last race for these guys. The guys were in 5th place at the halfway mark. Then in the last 500m they really turned on the afterburners. In the video you can see that they were the fastest boat on the course in the last quarter of the race. Their last 500m split was 1:31, that’s some juice! They finished in a time of 6:17, their fastest time of the season and 9th place in the country. What a great way to end the season. All three of our boats showed big improvement at Nationals. Each boat turned in their fastest time of the season on the biggest stage in the country by a significant margin. I know these times might not mean much to most people out there, but to a rowing coach it is really important and impressive: The WL2X went 7:47, the M4x went 6:17, and the ML2X went 6:47 and collected a silver medal. Well done to everybody: athletes, coaches, and parents alike. LBJC was represented well at the 2019 Nationals. Now time to regroup for next year! See you at summer conditioning!
The LBJC Coaching Staff