The Women’s Varsity 4+ of the Ann Arbor Pioneer High School crew team qualified for the SRAA (Scholastic Rowing Association of America) Nationals with their third place finish this weekend at the Midwest Scholastic Rowing Championship. Pioneer competed against the region’s strongest and fastest rowers on Saturday and Sunday, May 13-14, 2024 and performed well across the board, sending 11 boats to the grand finals competitions.
The races took place on the Kathryn Bennett Race Course at Kensington Metropark in Milford, Michigan. The Pioneer team was among over 50 clubs from eight states—including Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, West Virginia, and Wisconsin—that together entered hundreds of boats in this two-day series of time trials, semifinals, and final competitions.
On Saturday, boats raced in preliminary qualifying time trials in the morning and in semifinals in the early afternoon. Based on race times, the fastest boats then advanced to grand finals, held on Sunday. Some races also led to petite finals for a second tier of boats, depending on the total number of boats entered in the time trials. The course spans 1,500 meters along the northwestern edge of the 1,200-acre Kent Lake.
Conditions on Saturday morning were chilly and cloudy, with temperatures hovering in the mid 50s all day long. When the first Pioneer boat began to race at 8:00 a.m., winds were from the east and northeast at about 3 mph. By the afternoon, tailwind gusts were between 7–10 mph. Sunday brought slightly warmer weather with a high of 66 degrees as the last boats were finishing for the weekend, with steady winds all day from the west and northwest at 5 mph.
The Pioneer High School men’s and women’s crew teams will return to Kensington Metropark in Milford, Michigan, on Saturday, May 18, for the State Championship Regatta, hosted by the Scholastic Rowing Association of Michigan.
Bronze
– Women’s Varsity 4+ with a time of 06:00.240
Anne Stroud, Alita Cunnighim, Emmanuel Davis, Jordan Davis and Cecilia Fortson as Coxwain
Other finalists
Men’s Novice 8+ with a time of 05:32.092
Men’s Varsity 4+ with a time of 05:31.512
Men’s 2nd Varsity 4+ with a time of 05:31.655
Woman’s Jr 8+ with a time of 05:55.528
Men’s Jr 8+ with a time of 05:22.213
Women’s Novice 4+ with a time of 06:31.743
Women’s 2nd 8+ with a time of 05:53.898
Men’s 2nd 8+ with a time of 05:01.544
Women’s Varsity 8+ with a time of 05:27.728
Men’s Varsity 8+ with a time of 05:00.788
MAIN PHOTO: Women’s Varsity Bronze Medalists from left-right: Jordan Davis, Emmanuel Davis, Alita Cunningham, Anne Stoud, and Cecilia Fortson
All Photos by Tomiyo Wemert
