Long Beach Rowing Association (LBRA)’s 15-year-old Jillian McGill and 18-year-old Mackenzi Sherman were crowned national champions this past Sunday at the USRowing Youth National Championships in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Competing against regional champions from across the US, the LBRA duo won the Women’s Youth Double event in a time of 7:36.1. An hour after taking gold in the double, McGill and Sherman combined with teammates Jasmine McGill and Emily Loudenback and raced to a fourth place finish in the Women’s Youth Quad event.

Jillian McGill (left) and Mackenzi Sherman (right) holding aloft the crystal cup awarded to the winners of the Women’s Youth Double event. Photo courtesy of Mary Perrot.

Mackenzi Sherman and Jillian McGill will continue on after the national championship to an even higher level of competition. By invitation of the U.S. junior national team coaches, both rowers will compete for seats in the sculling boats that will represent the U.S. at the World Junior Championships in Plovdiv, Bulgaria in August. A member of the 2011 U.S. junior national team, Sherman rowed in the U.S. quadruple scull that placed fourth at last year’s world junior championships in England. Miss Sherman hopes to represent the U.S. again and return with a medal.

Left to right: Jillian McGill, Mcakenzi Sherman, Emily Loudenback, and Jasmine McGill. Photo courtesy of Mary Perrot.

The Youth National Championships in Tennessee featured more than 1,500 high school and junior athletes competing for national titles in eighteen events. Drawing in 360 crews from 158 clubs and high schools across the country, junior rowers came from 30 different states to compete in the three day regatta in Oak Ridge.