Mount Baker to send two to Nationals

The Mount Baker Crew team had a good showing during the Northwest Regional Regatta in Vancouver, Wash., behind the power of eight Mercer Island residents. Two shells with Islanders among the crew will compete at the National Championship to be held in Ohio next month.

The Mercer Island athletes did very well and one student, Katie Caudle, qualified in two events to attend the National Championship’s next month in Ohio.

Claude helped two shells to first-place finishes at the Regional Regatta, both qualifying for the National Championships. The women’s light-weight four finished in a time of 8:08 and the women’s light-weight eight in 7:16.

The Mount Baker men’s junior varsity eight was more like the Mercer Island shell, as all the athletes were Islanders. Patrick Schroedl, Thomas Ehlers, Ben Lee, Ricky Capelluto, Robby Capelluto, Nathan Beckett, Will Voit, Cole Johnson and L. Kloss combined to finish third with a time of 6:48.

Mount Baker women’s junior varsity eight finished third with a time of 7:28, thanks to Islanders Meaghan Weisfield and Sarah Jobe.

Islanders Robby Capelluto, Voit, Ricky Capelluto, Lee and Nathan Beckett powered the men’s junior varsity eight to a fourth-place finish in a time of 6:58, while Schroedl, Johnson and Ehlers helped to push the varsity eight to a fourth-place finish in a time of 6:20.

Ehlers, who is a junior at Mercer Island High School and a captain of the Mount Baker Crew team, has also been selected to participate in the US Rowing Junior National Team Development Camp at Northeastern University in Boston, MA. Ehlers is one of only 26 oarsmen chosen from the national junior pool to participate. The athletes train together from June 16 to July 3, after which the top 16 oarsmen will compete at the Independence Day Regatta in Philadelphia, Pa. on July 5-7 and then will compete in the US Rowing Club Nationals in Camden, NJ, July 16-20. There will be another selection and the top eight oarsmen will be invited to compete in the international CanAmMex Regatta in Oklahoma City, OK, July 25-26.

Other recent notable athletes are Jessie Johnson (MIHS 2005), currently a member of the UW varsity eight, the US collegiate national champions, Dane Robinson (MIHS 2006), also a member of UW crew and Paul Ehlers (MIHS 2007) who rows for Washington State.

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