Founders Wins Texas Championship in 5 Events

Founders competed in the Texas State Rowing Championships this weekend in Waco, bringing home State Championship Trophies in FIVE EVENTS! Varsity Rowers Maile Nelson, Sophia Rhodes, Abby Evans, and Olivia Knight won the state championship in the Quad; the 4-person sculling event, winning by several boat lengths of open water and about 10 seconds ahead of the next competitor. Nelson and Knight also brought home gold in the Varsity Double. These are back to back State Championship victories in the varsity events for Nelson and Rhodes.

Founders brought a big contingent of novice rowers to Bachman Lake this year, all of whom also brought home first place honors in their classifications! The novice quad, with 10th grader Brooke Burrows, 9th grader Alex Evans, and 8th graders Claire Elden and Fiorella Smith brought home gold in the Novice Quad. Smith & Burrows were also in the Championship Novice Double. Finally, in the Second Varsity classification, Juniors Dillan DeLugo, Gabby Carter and Samantha Reitbroek along with Sophomore Afton Juracek earned the first-place trophy in the Quad beating the rest of the field by open water.

Overall the team earned more points than any other small team in the state championships. Results by athlete were:

Maile Nelson: 1st in Varsity Quad, 1st in Varsity Double

Olivia Knight: 1st in Varsity Quad, 1st in Varsity Double

Sophia Rhodes: 1st in Varsity Quad

Abby Evans: 1st in Varsity Quad

Ava Hoefert: 2nd in U17 Single, 2nd in U17 Quad, 4th U17 Double

Dillan Delugo: 1st in 2nd Varsity Quad, 7th Varsity Double

Gabby Carter: 1st in 2nd Varsity Quad, 7th Varsity Double

Samantha Rietbroek: 1st in 2nd Varsity Quad

Afton Juracek: 1st in 2nd Varsity Quad, 2nd in U17 Quad, 4th U17 Double

Brooke Burrows: 1st in Novice Quad, 1st in Novice Double

Fiorella Smith: 1st in Novice Quad, 1st in Novice Double,