Peninsula Daily News
LAKE STEVENS — The Olympic Peninsula Rowing Association overcame terrible rowing conditions to bring home numerous medals from the Lake Stevens Spring Sprints held late last month, including a pair of first-place finishes.
OPRA’s varsity quad team of Nathan Mishler, Harrison Fulton, Zach Gavin and Tyler Turner took first in their race, winning with a time of 1 minutes, 42.6 seconds, beating five other teams, including the second-place team from Renton by half a second.
The varsity duo of Mishler and Gavin won their heat in the 2x races with a time of 1:50.8, more than five seconds ahead of the second-place boat. The due of Turner and Fulton took second in their 2x heat.
OPRA’s novice four-person team of Brighton Nickleson, Zigui Harper-Smith, Maria England, Calum Swinford and coxswain Ella Ventura finished second with a solid time of 2:03.4.
The team’s novice double squad of Zitao Harper-Smith and Nickleson came in fourth with a time of 2:27.1, and the doubles team of Fulton and Gavin also finished fourth with a time of 2:18.1
The weather was so bad that Zitao Harper-Smith, who was going to row as a novice single early on the day, couldn’t even get started on his race. As he waited at the starting line, the race was canceled due to the poor conditions. All of the junior singles ended up being suspended.
“Overall our team rowed well and gained a lot of experience in weather that was far less than ideal,” said coach Deborah Swinford.
