44°
PELHAM, N.Y. Pelham Community Rowing Association had a highly successful showing at the USRowing Youth Nationals in Oak Ridge, Tenn. this year and earned medals for the first time in its 10-year history.
Each of the five association boats that qualified for nationals advanced to the finals in their respective events. One team claimed a gold medal and another took home a silver medal.
Lightweight Doubles partners MaryGail DiBuono, a Mamaroneck High School senior, and Emma Landauer, a Brooklyn Technical High School senior, tore through the competition to capture the gold medal. They finished with a time of 7:45, the fastest recorded in the event at Youth Nationals.
The two girls teamed up just six weeks before nationals and actually put most of their training time into a different boat, the Girls Lightweight 8+, and then practiced in the Lightweight Doubles boat when they had finished. Even with that split training regimen, DiBuono and Landauer dominated the Lightweight Doubles event en route to the gold.
The groip captured the silver medal in the regattas largest event, the Girls Quadruple Sculls. The team of Pelham Memorial High School senior Tessa Dikkers, Mamaroneck High School senior Yasmine Hemida, Bronxville High School senior Claudia Jensen and Harrison High School sophomore Liliane Lindsay dominated their heat and advanced through the semifinals to the finals. The team eventually fell just short of a gold medal to a team from Connecticut.
DiBuono and Hemida, both from Mamaroneck High School, actually missed their senior prom to row at nationals. Their teammates surprised them with a Tennessee Prom one night to make up for it, complete with dresses and corsages.
Teammates Hemida and Lindsay were two of 30 rowers in the nation to receive an invitation to train for the USRowing Junior National Team this summer.
From a report by Pelham Community Rowing Association
Click here to follow Daily Voice Bronxville and receive free news updates.
