INCLINE VILLAGE, Nev. – Tahoe Crew, an up-and-coming youth rowing team, is off to a promising season following its first two races this fall.

Based out of Incline Village, the team is fresh off the Head of Port Regatta, a competition in Sacramento, which took place Sunday, Oct. 5. The team brought home six gold medals in the following categories.

• Boys U19 Single – Sebren Key (Galena)
• Boys U17 Single – Alex Tippett (North Tahoe)
• Boys U16 Single – Kai Copeland (Carson)
• Boys U17 Double – Tippett and Kole Buckley (Galena)
• Boys Novice Double – Copeland and Brecken Key(Galena)
• Girls Novice Double – Katie Illg (Sage Ridge) and Kennedy Kelly (North Tahoe)

In addition to those six golds, U19 racer, Sebren Key, claimed a trophy awarded to the fastest single boat of the entire regatta, regardless of sex or age. The perpetual trophy will remain with Key until next year’s race. It has over two decades worth of names engraved on the side since its origination in 1999. Key, however, is one of just a few youth names to claim it.

Key outcompeted competitors who bested him last year, some of which went to nationals. It’s a testament to his growth and improvement.

With talent like Key and other Tahoe Crew rising stars, Lake Tahoe Rowing Association president, Wyatt Nordstrom, believes the club is emerging with some of the top rowers in the western U.S.

This season’s accomplishments so far, which include another four gold medals, a silver and a bronze from their first regatta, have head coach, Jennifer Greenough and Nordstrom, excited about the season to come.

It’s particularly impressive given the program started in the summer of 2023 with just a handful of rowers and has expanded to over 20 participants as it enters its second full season.

“For a brand new, young startup program, we’re certainly punching way above our weight,” Nordstrom says, “and producing some pretty great athletes.”

Greenough attributes Tahoe Crew’s quick rise to success to the grit Tahoe has instilled. “They don’t mind a little rough water, that’s for sure,” Greenough says.

The boats are built to be fast, not stable. Rowing the extremely narrow and shallow boats in Tahoe’s often choppy waters, whether due to wakesurf boats or winds, is no easy task.

“Most people perceive that in order to row at all, you need to have really flat water,” Nordstrom explains. “Well, guess what? We’re on the northeast shore of Lake Tahoe. There’s no flat water here.”

He adds, “We’re in a tough spot and that makes us tougher.”

The conditions prepare them for anything, allowing the team to be adaptable on race day.

“If there’s even the slightest wind or waves or unpleasantness to the water,” Nordstrom says, “we just plow right through it and a lot of other athletes will get hung up on that.”

Tahoe’s training grounds and high altitude has proven to build a resilient team, but it is a double-edged sword. The winters keep the team off the water for part of the year, while other teams can be on the water year around.

The location also means the team is relatively isolated from scrimmages, making it hard to know where they stand competition-wise.

Any meet-up or competition means trailering or flying gear hundreds of miles.

“But, you know, that makes it even more gratifying,” Nordstrom says, “that we’ve done so well.”

The team combats these challenges by making the most of the time on the water and conditioning through the winter.

“For all the challenges of rowing on Tahoe, it is an amazing and beautiful location, and getting the youth out onto the lake is an amazing experience for them and for the coaches,” Greenough says. “We are so lucky to have this incredible location and this unique way to appreciate it.”

Each event ahead brings larger competitor fields and will continue to challenge the emerging team.

The next race, the Head of the American on Oct. 25 will host around 2,000 competitors.

“But so far,” Nordstrom says, “for the first two regattas, we’ve outperformed our expectations and we think we’re well positioned to do very, very well ahead of the American in two weeks.”

The Lake Tahoe Row Association also oversees an adult club, called Row Tahoe.

For more information on both teams and the association, visit rowtahoe.org.