WINTER PARK, Fla. – A royal return is set for the Winter Park Crew team as it looks to compete in the Henley Royal Regatta for the second straight year.
Last summer, the Winter Park High School team won second place in the world and lost by a few seconds. Being that close is driving junior Hannah Hill and company to win it all.
“For us to get that close to just taking home that trophy, we want to be sitting on that plane with that plate that has our name on it,” Hill said. “We’re going there with one goal: to win. It doesn’t matter where we are. We are going to work the same and get the job done.”
Many of the juniors and seniors on the team have committed to colleges, including D1 programs such as UCLA, Virginia, Yale, Clemson and Alabama. For the Henley, the boat will feature some newbies like junior Delany Brinton, anxious for the action.
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“I’m honestly so excited to get a taste of larger scale racing not quite matched in America,” Brinton said. “Just to be in an environment in which everything kind of circulates around about the sport I’m so passionate about.”
For those who competed last year, expectations are high, as well as a drive to win.
“We’re really trying to do better than we did last year,” junior Reilly Harris said. “We got so close, and that drive to win is really strong. We all really want to win.”
The trip is an expensive one: about $80,000, to be exact. But the team almost reached their fundraising goal thanks to local support.
“We actually were really fortunate,” Brinton said. “We have a lot of really good alumni and donors who help out a lot and makes it a lot easier for us.”
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