St Augustine’s Brookvale: College wins gold at 2022 Australian Rowing Championships
Despite training being interrupted by Covid, the rowing squad from a northern beaches secondary school found gold glory at the national rowing championships.
Manly
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Athletes from a northern beaches secondary school are national rowing champs.
The squad from St Augustine’s College at Brookvale has blitzed the 2022 Australian Rowing Championships, bringing home three gold medals.
At the regatta held at the Nagambie Lakes Regatta Centre in central Victoria over the weekend, the college was the top performing school-based team and was the ninth most successful rowing squad out of the 95 that entered.
The crew of Joshua Wilson, Joe Lynch, Oliver St Pierre and Brandon Smith, along with coxswain Ryder Taylor, 13, won gold on the Under/19 men’s Coxed Four event.
Three of that crew — Wilson, Smith and St Pierre — along with teammate Beau Nicholas, also grabbed gold in the Under/19 Coxless Four at Nagambie.
St Augustine’s also had a hand in another national championship win in a composite team with Newcastle Grammar School in the Under/17 men’s Quadruple Scull.
The school also picked up three silver medals: Under/17 Men’s Double Scull; Schoolboy Coxed Four and School Coxed Eight Sprint.
To add to the medal haul the college also won a bronze medal in the Under/19 Men’s Single Scull and., with Newcastle Grammar, in the Under/23 Men’s Quadruple Scull.
The college’s rowing coach, Judith Ungemach, was thrilled with the weekend results.
Ms Ungemach said the Coxed Four crew was made up of two pairs of rowers, which had to be quickly changed at the last minute, and Ryder Taylor, the school’s youngest coxswain.
“We told them to just go for it, and they won.
“It was really amazing. They looked really strong and dynamic. It was great to watch.
“We were just flying along the sideline watching them, and our smiles were so big.”
Ms Ungemach said the boys were able to increase focus on their training leading up to the championships, despite the interruptions caused by Civid lockdowns.
“Lockdown was a tough one, and I kept saying to the boys if you keep going in the lockdown we will see it at the nationals.”
“The captain, Josh Wilson, was a key factor in keeping the boys motivated, along with Joe Lynch who is a year younger and good at pushing the boys.”
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