Virginia Crew: Madison Freshmen Boat Takes Championship

Madison High School's Men’s Freshmen Boat took the State Championship on Saturday, capping an exciting day at the Ted Phoenix Regatta on the Occoquan.

The Phoenix Regatta serves as the State Championships for freshmen, novice and lower boats. Other boats compete in a separate championship later this month.

The Madison Men's Freshmen Eight, coached by  Brian Hetrick, won their preliminary heat, and then in the last seconds of the final, pulled ahead of Washington-Lee to win the state title by just over .7 seconds.  

The Freshmen Eight consists of coxswain Alex Manfredi and rowers Justin Roberts, Danny Tucker, Ryan Roop, Sean McLeod, Andrew Padgett, Justin Brunjes, Robbie Moore and Eric Voigt.

"I am very proud of all the guys," Hetrick said. "It's amazing how much we have accomplished over the course of three months on the water. They started the season not knowing how to row and now they are beginning to look like a varsity crew. They have had some very difficult practices and put forth the effort to earn them the seconds they needed in this weekend's race."

In other races, the Men's Third Eight and the Women's Freshmen Eight both placed fifth with strong performances. The Men's Novice Eight placed a strong third in their preliminary heat,  just missing a chance to advance to the finals.

This coming weekend, Madison will enter boats in the Men's and Women's First and Second Eight races as well as the Women's Junior Eight race at the Virginia Scholastic Rowing Championships.

The Men's and Women's 1V and 2V are all strong contenders for first place medals, with Madison's Women's First and Second Varsity boats defending their championship titles for the 3rd year in a row.

Treeby Brown reported for this story.