Youth roundup: Junior rowers are strong in season opener

The River City Rowing Club Juniors, who train at the Port of West Sacramento, competed in their first races of the fall season late last month.

On a picture-perfect day, the team raced 11 boats — eight varsity and three novice — in a 5,000-meter race at the Head of the American Regatta. This was the first race for the new Novice rowers, and the two girls’ boats placed 15th and 19th, while the boys took 12th.

In varsity competition, the men’s 4x and women’s open lightweight 8 were especially strong, coming in third and fourth, respectively. The 4x squad — made up of Cameron Cannings (stroke), Capp Wiedenhoefer, Cody Crawford and Sean Callaghan — finished in 17 minutes, 23.79 seconds, while the lightweight 8 was coxed by Emily Magavern, with Mikhayla Armstrong (stroke), Eleni Spanos, Erin MacDonald, Madison Emmett, Charlotte Rock, Natalie Jacobs, Maya London and Serena Enzerink rowing hard for a time of 18:57.24.

Overall, it was a strong start to the season for RCRC, which is still accepting rowers. Interested eighth- through 12th-graders should contact head coach Tricia Blocher at rcrcjrcoach@gmail.com or visit www.rivercityjuniors.org.

Diamonds gymnastics

A fast sprint to a powerful springboard followed by a straight handstand and a strong push-off to a perfect landing earned Davis Diamonds gymnast Cordelia Hsiao the top vault score at the Junior Olympic Level 6 State Championships last weekend. Hsiao, a Davis High sophomore, combined with teammates Karolina Perkins, Colleen Peterson, Kyra Mayfield, Kyra Lee and Nicole Bradshaw to post Davis’ best result in 10 years.

Level 6 is advanced compulsory gymnastics, so the skills are difficult. Competing against 66 qualifying teams, the Diamonds finished 27th overall, including 17th on bars and 18th on vault.

Competing in the first session, Hsiao started and won her best event. She finished strong on beam and floor to place 10th all-around. In the same session, Clara Riggle took fourth on vault and bars and finished fourth all-around, despite having less training than her competitors.

Also Saturday, Mayfield’s dynamic performance on floor earned sixth place to help her get 11th all-around. And, after struggling in her warm-up, Bradshaw put it together when it counted, swinging a big clean bar set to a personal-best score for fifth. That, combined with a seventh-place showing on floor, put her seventh all-around.

Coming back from injuries earlier in the year, Lee exceeded expectations with a 9.075 on vault, good enough for the bronze medal and a 10th-place finish in the all-around.

Perkins started her day by swinging a big, clean uneven bars routine that earned seventh, matching her floor score to help her take 10th all-around.

Little League

Davis Little League registration is now open for the spring season. Little League is open to boys and girls ages 4-14 (based on player’s age as of April 30, 2013).

DLL has levels from Tee-ball to Juniors and serves nearly 1,000 Davis players each season. Register at http://davislittleleague.org/index.php.

Costs are $100 for Tee-ball; $155 for Farm ball, AA, AA and Majors; and $250 for Juniors. Late fees apply on and after Jan. 1.