McCallie seniors Michael Kalinowski, Bailey Nelson, Jackson Moore, Josh Gable and Shalin Naik finished their high school rowing careers together in sterling fashion last Saturday, with a silver medal in the senior four division at the Scholastic Rowing Association of America National Championships on Cooper River Lake at Cherry Hill, N.J.
The Blue crew had a temporary lead in their semifinal heat and again in the six-boat grand final but were passed late in each race by the recent Stokesbury Cup winners from Father Judge High School in Philadelphia. That division started with 32 boats.
The SRAA nationals had 32 categories and included nearly 200 teams from as far away as California and Arizona, as well as Canada.
Girls Preparatory School earned a bronze medal with a young group in junior four and missed a semifinals spot by one length in lightweight four - with all sophomores - and McCallie added a fifth-place finish in junior four. The junior four competitions each had 24 boats.
"Coming out of a region with a small number of scholastic teams, we were not sure of where we stacked up against the field," GPS coach Megan McCourt said in a release, adding that it was "an amazing weekend" for her underclassmen.
Specifically of the third-place finishers, she said, "Once we knocked off the Stokesbury bronze medal winners (Egg Harbor from New Jersey) in the heat, we knew we had something going. We built great momentum and confidence by winning the semifinal and faced a seasoned field in the final. We are so honored to get on the medal stand, and I am so proud of all of our girls and the direction that the program is headed in."
Said junior team captain Anna Oglesby, the coxswain with 10th-graders Mary Louise Whitfield, Rebecca Guhde, Allison Smith and Larkin Brown: "I think having a younger team this year has turned into a positive thing. Being able to go to nationals with a boat full of sophomores is something that we can build on in the years to come. Next year we're hoping gold looks even better on us than bronze!"
McCallie coach Sean McCourt, Megan's husband, said his program's future "looks bright" also.
"This has been such a trying season for McCallie, and the boys at this race were the glue that kept us going all season long," he said. "It was unbelievable to have two boats make the grand final. We have been working towards this moment all year and are so excited for our boys and the girls from GPS.
"The younger guys who raced in the freshmen eight and junior eights raced hard as well and have picked up valuable race experience."
Comprising the McCallie junior four were Nicholas "Stippy" Stipanov, Bob Moore, Richmond Coney, Philip Pedigo and coxswain Mitchell Negus. Vanderbilt-bound Naik was the varsity four's cox.
"The whole weekend almost felt like a dream to me," said co-captain Gable, who's headed to the Naval Academy. "I think that we were the only people at the course that believed the team from Tennessee could make a statement at the race.
"When we got to the line in the grand final, the boat was so calm, and we knew that it was going to be a battle till the last stroke. It was the greatest race of our lives and an even better way to leave McCallie."