High Point Youth Rowers Celebrate the Season and Send off Seniors at Spring Crew Banquet

Oak Hollow Lake – High Point youth rowers celebrated a season of rowing and gave a special send off to the high school seniors at the annual Spring Crew Banquet last night.

It was once again a gorgeous evening for a celebration and following dinner, the mood was set as Laurie Briggs (Lyndon's Mom) opened the evening by singing the National Anthem just beautifully.

Coach Gene Kininmonth (also Jack's Dad) then continued the formalities by presenting the York Cup. "This cup is named in honor of Greg & Caren York, whose son Charles rowed on our crew for 4 years. Greg & Caren are significant philanthropists in High Point and have been extremely generous to this program. Each year any member of the team is eligible to seek a York Cup Challenge by selecting a crew to race a bridge to bridge time trial from Skeet Club to Johnson Street. The crew must contain at least 4 middle school or novice rowers, and no more than 4 male rowers."

This year’s winning crew with a time of 14 minutes 50 seconds was coxswain Phoebe Clutter, Hannah Edwards, Sarah McKinney, Andrew Mattern, William Thompson, Cam Hernandez, Jack Kininmonth, Ella James Schwanke and Rebekkah Franks.

Gene then welcomed Coach Rob Varner (also Charlotte's Dad) to the awards table to present awards & congratulations to the following rowers:

Middle School Rowers of the Year: Rebekah Franks & Jack Kininmonth 

Most Improved Rowers for the Year: Charlotte Varner & Max Ludemann 

Rowers of the Year (MVPs): Hannah Edwards & Calvin Hrycay

Gene thanked Coach Rob for his service to the club and then invited the seniors Hannah Edwards, Sarah McKinney, William Thompson, and Collin Greene to the front and thanked them for their contributions to their team mates over a combined 20 years of rowing with the club. The evening then took on a humorous twist with the seniors entertaining the team with rower awards based on fitting superlatives. These awards have been a popular annual tradition with the crew.

Traditions continued as the seniors passed down their shirts to younger members of the team - another time honored ceremony.

The seniors then thanked the coaches and all the parents for their support and particularly Kim Edwards, the team's parent leader for all her hard work behind the scenes organizing tents, tables and food at regattas, which only begins to describe how much this year's Team Mom did for the rowers. 

The most important part of the ceremonies then arrived and emotions ran high as the four seniors each made stirring speeches reflecting on their own personal experiences of rowing in High Point. A wonderful evening then came to its traditional conclusion with a team photo on the dock and possibly a little swimming...