Rockford boys, girls win team rowing championships

Orchard Lake St. Mary's second

Kelly Hill | The Grand Rapids Press

GRAND RAPIDS -- Sometimes Sue Sherman needs only to watch her twin sons row to know if they are cooperating with each other.

Cooperation was high between twins Kyle and Mark Sherman on the Grand River on Saturday when the Forest Hills Central seniors rowed to a Scholastic Rowing Association of Michigan state championship in the boys varsity 2.

The Sherman brothers were clocked at 6 minutes, 46.41 seconds on the northbound course that began just north of the Ann St. bridge and ended at the island in Riverside Park.

They beat runner-up Orchard Lake by more than 28 seconds.

"Sometimes when I watch them row I know when they are cooperating with each other," Sue Sherman said. "Today they were very in sync."

Kyle Sherman sits in the bow seat in the Rangers' boat while Mark Sherman is the stroke.

"You have to react together," Mark Sherman said. "It takes more practice, but there isn't much talking on the water. It's all about keeping it balanced. It helps that we're in tune with reach other, but it's really an advantage that we're the same body size and height. That really helps."

The Sherman brothers, who are 6-foot and 160 pounds, are headed to Michigan State next year. Mark plans to major in biology or chemistry while Kyle plans to study chemical engineering.

"In crew, I like the fact that you are always fighting against yourself to be the best," Kyle Sherman said.

No one was better than the Sherman brothers Saturday and no one was better than the boys and girls teams from Rockford.

For the first time in their rowing history, the Rams boys and girls each won team state championships as well as the combined championship.

Rockford's boys won the state championship with 28.5 points, beating runner-up Orchard Lake by 4.5 points. The Rams' girls won with 31 points while Ann Arbor Pioneer was second with 24. Rockford's 59.5 combined points beat Ann Arbor Pioneer by 28.5 points.

"It's overwhelming," Rockford coach Tim Jacobs said. "It's a great feeling knowing you are the No. 1 team in the state of Michigan.

The Rams claimed their first SRAM state championship by winning two boys finals and three girls finals. Rams Stephani Sawicki, Tessa Powers, Zoe Zeerip, Chloe McColgan and coxswain Gabrelle LeClair won the Girls Lightweight 4 while LeClair, as coxswain, Sawicki, Jennifer Vlas, Courtney Brummeler, Powers, Zeerip, Sammy Erickson, Emily Prus and McColgan won the Girls Lightweight 8. Rams Lynsey Felty, Andrea Galloway, Jessica Wheeler, Amy Fedeson and coxswain Brianna VanderBerg won the Girls Junior 4.

Rockford's two boys wins came in the Lightweight 8 and Junior 8. Rams Marcus Powers, Mitch Hendershot, Kevin Clinthorne, Tyler

Maple, Sean Ebel, Dilan Itter, Tyler Truxton, Isaac Blenman and coxswain Sarah McLeellan won the Lightweight 8 while coxswain Lauren Rohde, Chad Slider, Maple, Hendershot, Corey Fase, Powers, Ebel, Clinthorne and Jake Nemeth won the Junior 8.

"This has taken a lot of hard work and dedication," Jacobs said. "A lot of these kids stuck it out throughout the winter and even though we were three weeks behind in our time on the water, we made that up the last two weeks.
This is the first time we've done this and it's great."

Prep Rowing

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