In an exciting heat this afternoon, the nine Exeter girls competing at the USRowing Youth National Championship in Cincinnati, Ohio qualified for the Womens Youth 8+ Grand Finals. Down by over a length after the start, they pulled away from their fifth place position in the middle 1000 meters. After catching up with the field, they moved past St. Ignatius in the last third of the race. Exeter finished the 2000 meter course in 7:00:99, only 0.35 seconds behind first place Everett Rowing Association. St. Ignatius finished third, 1.27 seconds behind Exeter.  These first three finishers race and the top three from the other semifinal heat qualify for the grand final race, which will take place Sunday at 12:32 P.M. (EST). This race decides the fastest girls boat in the nation. The lane assignments for the final:

• Lane 2 – St. Ignatius Crew (school from Cleveland, Ohio)
• Lane 3 – Long Beach Junior Crew (club from Long Beach, California)
• Lane 4 – Everett Rowing Association (club from Everett, Washington)
• Lane 5 – Maritime Rowing Club (club from Norwalk, Connecticut)
• Lane 6 – Phillips Exeter Academy
• Lane 7 – St. Louis Rowing Club (club from St. Louis, Missouri)

Official race results will be posted here as soon as they are made available tomorrow.

Good luck girls! Show them what it means to be part of Exeter Crew.