North Palm Beach Rowing Club’s youth team notched it’s best performance ever this year at the 2018 Florida State Sculling Championships, hosted by the FL Scholastic Rowing Association (FSRA). NPBRC is now home to the two fastest female single scullers in Florida youth rowing, Gracie Leon (Girls Varsity 1x) and Maricella Adams-Grimaldi (Girls Jr. 1x), who dominated the field in their respective events to capture gold against the fastest scullers in the state. Meanwhile, NPBRC qualified 4 other of their 8 total entries (for a total of 6) into the Grand Final of their events. Of these, NPBRC walked away with two 5th place Grand Final finishes and two 6th place finishes. Perhaps most importantly, though, each and every NPB entry left it all on the racecourse. For many NPBRC rowers, this was their first year of competition and first ever appearance at a rowing state championship – an admirable performance by all. For others, like senior Lucas Rossell, who finished top 6 in the state against one of the toughest fields in the regatta, the boys Lightweight 1x, the event capped an extensive – and very impressive – high school rowing career.
With the regular season behind it, several North Palm Beach athletes will continue on to USRowing’s Southeast Regional Championship and the USRowing Youth National Championship, and much of the team will continue to hone their skills as they prepare for races nationally and internationally.