Dickinson Among Fastest Rowers In Nation

Racing in the lightweight men’s doubles event, Nick Dickinson, who recently completed his junior year at Newtown High School, and his crew partner, Blaze Kelly, took fourth place in the A Final of the US Rowing Youth National Championship held in Oakland, Tenn on June 12.

Representing GMS Rowing Center of New Milford, they placed in three qualifying heats on Friday and Saturday before the final 2,000-meter race held on Sunday. Only the fastest teams from 11 qualifying regattas around the country earned the right to race for the title.

The competition featured more than 1,500 athletes from high school and junior rowing programs across the country competing for national titles in 18 boat classes. 

In each semifinal, the top three boats move on to the A finals while the next three are relegated to the B finals. In almost every event, racing for the top spots was tight. Some of the hardest-fought races in the early semifinals were in the lightweight men’s double sculls.

The top two boats in both semifinals were separated by fractions of a second. In the first semifinal, the crew of Todd Summers and Casey Ward from the Atlanta-based St Andrews Rowing Club held off a late surge from Dickinson and Kelly. St. Andrews finished in 7:01.27 with GMS right behind them in 7:01.50.

Dickinson and Kelly were the only lightweight double in the A finals from the Northeast region, coming in fourth behind Seattle, WA, Vashon Island, WA and St. Andrew’s Boat Club of Atlanta.

 “We may not have won, but we didn’t lose either. We worked hard to get where we are, fastest lightweight double in the Northeast,” Dickinson said.