![\"\"](\"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/SamStewart2.jpg\")
<\/a>Brock\u2019s Sam Stewart has qualified for the World Rowing Virtual Indoor Championships.<\/p><\/div>\n
It was the first competition in more than a year for the Badgers rowing program.<\/p>\n
Stewart\u2019s virtual victory qualified him for the 2021 World Rowing Virtual Indoor Championships taking place Feb. 23 to 27.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was great to race for Brock again. Racing it alone in my basement felt much different than being in the Hershey Centre, where you\u2019re surrounded by spectators and sitting next to your competitors,\u201d said Stewart, who is originally from London, but raced from his student home in St. Catharines. \u201cMost rowers would agree that virtual racing alone in your basement is just about the worst possible situation to find yourself in. But I\u2019m very grateful for the opportunity to test myself and represent Brock again.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stewart pulled off a come-from-behind win with a time of six minutes, 9.08 seconds in the 2,000-metre Under-23 men\u2019s race to hold off Aidan Hembruff of Ottawa Rowing Club (6:11.3) and Ian Holmquist of Peterborough Rowing Club (6:11.5).<\/p>\n
Stewart had his computer hooked up next to him to keep note of everyone\u2019s position during the race. For most of it, he was bouncing between second and third place. Halfway through, he noticed he was on pace for a personal best time, and he knew then he had to make a move in the last 500 metres.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere comes a point when you\u2019re in so much pain the only thing you\u2019re focusing on is the split you\u2019re pulling and not your position,\u201d he said. \u201cI was able to push myself into first place.\u201d<\/p>\n
His Badgers teammate, Michael Ciepiela, placed fourth (6:21.7).<\/p>\n
Brock rowing head coach Peter Somerwil said his athletes may have competed from the comforts of their own homes, but there was nothing easy about the event.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am very pleased with how all the athletes performed,\u201d he said. \u00a0It can be tough to compete without your teammates there to cheer you on and trying to do it alone in your garage or basement. It\u2019s also not easy not having had any competition for so long.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tony DiDomenico, a third-year Brock Medical Sciences student from Niagara Falls, registered a personal best time by five seconds to finish third overall (6:37.4) as the top Canadian rower in the lightweight men\u2019s U23 race. Samuel Maconco also posted a personal best time by five seconds to place fourth (6:39.0).<\/p>\n
The Badgers\u2019 British Columbia connection pulled through in the U23 lightweight women\u2019s race as Jordan Isnor, who is studying remotely from Nanaimo, B.C., placed second (7:36.8) and Bonnie Reynolds (7:47.8) took fourth while racing from her home on Salt Spring Island, B.C.<\/p>\n
Rowan O\u2019Neill enjoyed a strong race to improve her personal best time by five seconds (7:51.1) for sixth overall.<\/p>\n
First-year Badger Chris Gomez snagged second overall and was the top Canadian finisher (6:51.0) in the U19 lightweight men\u2019s event.<\/p>\n
A pair of Brock recruits, Zoe and Isabella Durcak, competed in the U19 lightweight women\u2019s race. Isabella Durkac won the event (7:34.2), which would have tied her for first in the U23 women\u2019s lightweight race. Zoe Durkac secured second (7:41.8).<\/p>\n
\u201cWe couldn\u2019t be more excited to have these two talented young ladies join our team in the fall,\u201d said Somerwil.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Brock Badgers\u2019 first competition in more than a year didn\u2019t resemble anything like a public sporting event.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":70447,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1,58],"tags":[256,4437,9957,623,9958],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70435"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/49"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70435"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70435\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":70466,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70435\/revisions\/70466"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/70447"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70435"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70435"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70435"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}