Being a new coach is never easy and often when teams get a change-up, they have a “growing year,” where placements don’t happen as the team and coach learn how to function together. This was definitely not the case for Olympia Area Rowing’s youth program, which qualified for the 2025 USRowing Youth National Championships under new coach Victoria Tkacz, who started August 2024.
“This whole year for me has been about teaching them how to be consistent and showing them where that can take them,” shares Victoria. “In a sport like this, training consistently is huge and the athletes are going to get out of it what they put into it. The athletes who qualified for Nationals really put in the work this year and it has paid off!”
Teams from Olympia Area Rowing competed at the 2025 USRowing Northwest Youth Championships – considered a regional competition – in Vancouver, Washington, on May 16-18, 1015. The Regionals are a chance for boats to qualify for the National Championships. Boats must place in the top 4 to head to Nationals.
Three high school boats from Olympia Area Rowing qualified: Men’s U17 Quad team, Henry Loeb, Alden Starks, Silas Wilson, Evan Piazza, placed second; Women’s U17 Double team, Jo Gjertsen and Charity Lutz placed second; and a Women’s Youth Single, Hailey Bermensolo, placed fourth.
“All of the kids were super excited to be going to Nationals,” shares Victoria. “It meant another two-and-a-half weeks of training and they really stepped up to the plate to continue training hard while the rest of their teammates were done for the season.”
At Nationals, there were a total of 231 teams, competing in the different events. Olympia Area Rowing made a strong showing at their first Nationals with Vicktoria, coming in seventh out of 23 crews in the Men’s U17 Quad; 12th out of 28 crews in the Women’s U17 Double; and 33rd place out of 33 crews in the Women’s Youth Single.
“The athletes who qualified for Nationals really put in the work this year and it has paid off!” shares Victoria. “It has genuinely been really fun to watch the whole team, not only those who qualified for Nats, progress and get faster as the year has gone on. I really just love watching them all push the boundaries of what they think is possible for themselves and I am really so proud of how far they have all come this year.”
This is not the first time Olympia Area Rowing has qualified for Nationals and with Victoria that the helm, it shouldn’t be the last.
