‘A championship worth winning’: Concord Crew duo wins gold at US Rowing Youth Nationals

As they entered the final race of the U.S. Rowing Youth Nationals Regatta, Micah Lowne and Isaac Petrenko started to sweat. 

Not just because it was mid-June in Sarasota, Fla. More than that, the two faced their closest competition yet. 

“We had not been in a situation where we had very similar times to the second-place boat. We were fast, but they were really fast, too,” Petrenko said. 

After a first-place finish in May’s qualifying race, the Friends of Concord Crew duo advanced to the national championship. To start their weekend in Florida, though, they finished second in the time trial — 10 milliseconds behind Black Sheep Racing, a Philadelphia crew. The next day, they finished first in the semifinal, earning them optimal lane placement for the final.

Lowne and Petrenko have been rowing partners for three seasons now. What really makes their partnership work, according to head coach Steven Garside, is their “respect for each other.”

But things between Lowne and Petrenko weren’t always smooth sailing. A series of small disagreements during their championship run had begun to rock the boat.

“That was part of the process for us,” Petrenko said. “We really focused on what we were here for, and we were like, ‘We’re not going to let this disagreement break the chance to go to the championship.’ ”

To cool off their nerves, the 16-year-old and 15-year-old spent the evening before the final race swimming in the hotel’s pool. On Sunday morning, they returned to the water.

“The final race is funny because everybody wants a medal, so people get really determined in that race,” Garside said. “Even though you’re sitting in a good spot, you can never take anybody for granted.”

Lowne and Petrenko stuck to their plan: They took an immediate lead and kept a steady pace in their lane. At around the 1,000-meter mark — halfway through the race — Black Sheep Racing passed them.

“It started getting frightening,” Petrenko said. But with about 500 meters left, his teammate made a call.

From the bow seat, Micah pointed to the side, at some rocks on a beach in the distance.

“‘That’s where we’re going to sprint,’” Petrenko recalled him saying.

When they reached those rocks, they poured all their effort out.

“We pulled so hard — that’s the hardest I’ve ever pulled in a boat. We took a whole boat-length lead on them into the last five strokes of the race,” Petrenko said. “It was a championship worth winning, and it felt earned because of those last 350 meters with Micah.”

Lowne and Petrenko finished with a 2.63-second lead on Black Sheep Racing.

“I couldn’t have done it without my double buddy. It can’t just be anyone; it has to be the person that you’ve been doing the most miles with on the water,” Lowne said of his friend and teammate. “You have to trust that person a lot — that’s one of the key things with rowing with another person. Trust, that’s what really helps move the boat.”

After watching two other Concord Crew boats win medals in years past at the Youth National Regatta, the duo wanted one for themselves. For Lowne, the third national champion in his family, that legacy rings especially true. His older brother, Luke, brought home bronze in the 2021 U19 pair event. His other older brother, Seth, won gold in the 2024 double event.

Both of them were present for his victory.

“It kind of runs in the family with that crowd,” Garside said.

But aside from blood relations, Lowne and Petrenko are honored to bring home the prize to a different kind of family: Concord Crew.

“There was motivation in being a small team,” Petrenko said. “Now, we get to come home and we get to put a gold medal on the shelf, and it’s like, ‘Wow, Concord Crew really did that.’ ”

After seeing two of his own children compete in the championship, Garside had faith that this year’s duo was capable. He just wasn’t sure how they’d come out in such a tight race. 

“As we came into the last stretch and they were sitting in second, I didn’t know if they had the determination to take it one step further and really push for that first-place win,” he said. “They did, and I was super proud, very proud of them.”

After an estimated 200,000 strokes with Lowne, Petrenko’s thirst for a medal has finally been quenched.

“I feel like I put in all that I could to get to this point,” he said. “I feel satisfied.”