Through the first three days of competition in the USRowing Junior Nationals at Nathan Benderson Park in Sarasota, most of the approximately 4,000 competitors kept every emotion under wraps.
Every race was the chance to have one more race to keep alive the dream of a high finish at the nationals. But on Sunday, when the task was finished, win or lose, the emotions flowed. A year’s worth of work had led up to that final day.
So in the final day’s first race — the men’s youth 1x — Simeon John of Boston’s Community Rowing was ready to launch his own celebration after he crushed the field to win the event’s first national title. The only thing stopping him was that his body wouldn’t cooperate…