Local crews combine for five firsts in Arkansas
Published 9:25 am Wednesday, July 30, 2014
Bogalusa Venturer Crew 313 and Varnado Venturer Crew 200 combined for five first-place finishes in the 48th annual White River Canoe Race, which took place Thursday-Saturday in Arkansas.
Crew 313 captured the Boys Advanced Aluminum, Boys Novice Aluminum and the Boys Beginner Aluminum.
Crew 200 was crowned in the Girls Cruising Division and the Girls Beginner Aluminum.
Crew 313’s Boys Advanced Aluminum ‘A’ team finished the 120-mile race in 15 hours, 30 minutes and 36 seconds.
The crew’s ‘B’ squad was runner-up in 17:05.38 with Fayetteville, Ark.
Crew 142 completing the race in 17:42.20.
Crew 313’s ‘A’ Team had Landon Arabie, Brannon Crosby, A.J. Holmes and Austin Hunt.
The ‘B’ team consisted of Duncan McLindon Jr., Zach Mitchell, Adam Mitchell, Tyler Rester, Matthew Russell and Zane Thomas.
The Boys Novice team won with a time of 15:47.14.
Fayetteville Crew 142, which was at 18:11.15, was the second-place team for that division.
The club featured Rory Breland, JohnWilliam Hartzog, Spencer Hunt, Justin Mixon, Dylan Seals and Chris Weintritt.
The boys and girls beginner racers went 78 miles.
Crew 313 won the Boys Beginner Division in 5:18.59 with Batesville, Ark. Crew 320 (6:10.11) and Longview, Texas Troop 201 (6:42) taking second-and-third respectively.
The 313 group consisted of Jacob Pounds and William Pounds.
Switching to Crew 200 where their Cruising Team, featuring Kirsten Barber, Grace Fornea, Laiton Jenkins and Morgan Thigpen, was victorious in 16:09.49.
The Beginner Aluminum group won in 5:52.31, nearly an hour better than Batesville Crew 320 (6:52.01).
The team had Abbi Fornea and Maria Heitman.
Crew 313’s Open Cruising Team (13:46.16) had a tough runner-up finish to Russellville, Ark., Crew 300, which won in 13:42.58 by just 3:17.
Crew 313 led after each of the first two days.
They were up by 3:19, heading into the second day.
Russellville trimmed the advantage to just 29 seconds after the second day of competition before eventually taking the crown.
The group consisted of Rupert Breland III, Adam Economu, Jonathan Pierce, Tyler Spears and Colby Spears.
The close second-place finish snapped a stretch of three-consecutive victories in that division for Crew 313.