Old Dominion Boat Club Rowers Capture Medals at Occoquan Chase Regatta

If there is a truism in the sport of rowing, it is this: With each passing week of the fall crew season, the field of boats gets larger, and the competition gets more intense.

Such was the case this past Sunday for the men and women of the Old Dominion Boat Club (ODBC) Select Crew team, who traveled down I-95 to compete in the Occoquan Chase, a regatta that saw the young rowers square off against not only more than 20 boats in each of their respective events, but some of the toughest boats in the area, as well.

Coxswain Rosa Procaccino steers the ODBC Women's Junior 8 "A" boat down the race course at the Occoquan Chase Regatta. Photo credit: Power 10 Photography

Against this challenging field, ODBC more than held its own, with the Women's Junior 8 "A" boat coming in third out of 26 boats with a time of 19:11.53 to bring home the bronze medal in their race, and the Men's Junior 4 coming in third out of 24 boats with a time of 18:43.91 to bring home another bronze. Members of the Women's Junior 8 "A" boat include coxswain Rosa Procaccino and rowers Gabriela Salcedo, Alexandria Lemke, Nadia Magallon, Rebecca Gehring, Katie Pickup, Caroline Olsson, Maeve Bradley and Kate Arnold. The women are guided by Head Coach Steve Weir and Assistant Coach Patrick Marquardt.

Members of the Men's Junior 4 include coxswain Mark Comey and rowers Greg Montenegro, Madison Weitekamp, Carter Weitekamp, and Chris Porter. Guiding the ODBC Men are Head Coach Jaime Rubini and Assistant Coach Lexye Hearding. Rubini put in double duty on Sunday. In addition to coaching the Men's Junior 4 to a Bronze Medal, Rubini - who rowed for Peru in the 1971 Pan American games - also took to the water himself, capturing the Gold Medal with a time of 22:28.90 in the 60-plus masters single scull event.

The ODBC Men's Junior 4 make their way down the race course at the Occoquan Chase Regatta. Members of the boat include, from left to right, rowers Greg Montenegro, Madison Weitekamp, Carter Weitekamp and Chris Porter. Not pictured is coxswain Mark Comey. Photo credit: Power 10 Photography

Medals in hand, Rubini and his rowers have this weekend off and will spend the next two weeks getting ready for their next race - the Head of the Schuylkill Regatta in Philadelphia on Oct. 28. As for the ODBC Girls, they leave on Friday morning to compete in the prestigious Head of the Charles Regatta, the largest two-day rowing event in the world, which will be held this weekend in Boston.

The ODBC Select Crew Team is sponsored by the Alexandria Crew Boosters in conjunction with the Old Dominion Boat Club. Rowers on this year's crew are drawn from such schools as T.C. Williams, West Potomac, Georgetown Visitation and McLean.

In addition to guiding the ODBC Men's Junior 4 to a Bronze Medal at the Occoquan Chase Regatta, Men's Head Coach Jaime Rubini took to the water himself, capturing the Gold Medal in the 60-plus masters single scull event. Rubini - who rowed for Peru in the 1971 Pan American games - is shown here competing in the event. Photo credit: Power 10 Photography

Additional photos from the 2012 Occoquan Chase can be found on Facebook.