Even though this was his third time at club nationals, Vesper Boat Club's Marcus Brown felt something special about today.
This time, he was one of the leaders, not a follower, as he held up the Colgan Cup with his teammates on the shores of Lake Harsha.
"Going back to my first year, I was one of the younger ones," he said. "Now, three years later, I'm one of the older ones, and I know that they will keep the legacy going. They definitely will keep being hungry."
The 2016 USRowing Club National Championships came to a close today as Vesper Boat Club once again hoisted the Colgan Cup to claim the overall team points trophy. Logging 267 points, the team in maroon and white held off New York Athletic Club by nine points.
"For the points trophy last year and the year before, I felt, 'Oh, I'm just with it,' and I didn't really help too much," Brown said. "This year, I really felt like I helped. I felt like I actually contributed."
While seasoned veterans such as Brown led the Vesper crew to victory, head coach Sean Clarke recognized that his young group of juniors were what propelled the team to winning the overall title.
"We really wanted to make sure that our junior athletes had as much of a role in our success as the under 23 group," said Clarke "It really worked out well because I feel like that group really helped us bring home the trophy this year. It was a much closer contest this year."
NYAC finished with 188 points to retain the Sulgar-Barnes Men's All-Points Award. Even though the crew from New York fought valiantly for the overall title, head coach Nick Dawe was pleased with both the men's and the women's performance.
"It's been a really fantastic group and a much larger group than we have had in years past," said Dawe. "What is exciting is that it is a much younger group than we have had normally, so our outlook is bright. I am just really proud of what the guys did.
"Our women's team put out a tremendous effort throughout the week in the best performance they have had in many years."
Medaling nine times, the TBC Racing women's crew took an early lead in the women's points race and never looked back to finish with 160 points to claim the Marion D. Ventura Women's All-Point Award.
"It speaks volumes to the great coaches that we have," said head junior women's coach Greg King. "It speaks volumes to the great junior athletes that we have in the Washington [DC] region. It says a lot about the open women's team and how they're able to draw athletes from all over the country to train in DC for the summer"
Before medals were handed out, however, racing kept the waters of Lake Harsha busy as 32 finals raced down the course throughout the day.
Racing got exciting early as Saugatuck Rowing Club was able to make its move through Penn A.C. Rowing Association to win gold by 0.347 seconds. The medal was not just a reminder of the victory for Sophie Pendrill.
"It was back and forth between Penn AC, and us and we came out down at the start," said Pendrill. "We had to come together and pushed at the 300-meter mark to get us back out ahead. We just really wanted that gold medal. We were the first Saugatuck boat to get a gold this weekend and it felt really good. This is a younger group, and we wanted to show the older girls that we could get gold too."
The daughter of a two-time Olympian, Greenwich Crew's Lucy Koven and her pair partner were able to hold off the Community Rowing, Inc., for gold in the under 17 women's double sculls. Koven, who is new to rowing, was just as excited with her overall experience at club nationals as she was to medal.
"For me personally, I am a really new rower," said Koven. "It has been exciting to get to row with really amazing and hardworking people. The chance to get to results like these against such hard competition has been an experience."
On the men's side, Mendota Development Camp put on an impressive sprint in the men's intermediate lightweight pair to steal gold from the Minnesota Men's Development Camp to finish 0.626 seconds ahead with a time of 7:18.287.
"We really got ahead by the first 500 meters, which got us pretty tired," said Tyler Stevens. "We held through until the finish. It was a pretty close race, closer than we expected. Definitely the toughest race of all the of the five days."
"It was a fun venue, it was our first time here, and we enjoyed all of the racing."
After racing was over, 325 athletes crowded into the Matt Maupin Pavilion to discuss their future rowing plans with 82 universities in the 13th-Annual College Fair.
"The college fair serves as the best way to cap-off such a great week," said Fordham University's assistant coach Katie Lane. "Having the opportunity to meet face-to-face with athletes in such a cool setting is a unique way to introduce yourself to a potential athlete."