WACO, Texas (KXXV) — Waco youth rowers Roman Sykora and Eli Gilmore are making their way to Nationals — a statement that still hasn't sunk in.
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"I don't know if I've fully processed it yet, but I'm coming to grips with it and it's pretty cool," Sykora said.
"When I was actually racing, I was so close I couldn't tell who won. I was amazed. I didn't think I had got it," Gilmore said.
Both Roman and Eli have been in rowing for only a short time — each with their own unique journey to the club before putting blades in the water.
"My mom, honestly, she was like, hey, there's this new weird sport in Waco, it's called rowing, it's where you row a boat. I was like, oh cool, I'll try it and then I ended up being decent at it and I really enjoyed doing it," Sykora said.
"I read the book "The Boys in the Boat", and then we watched the movie after that, and my mom kind of just found it online, seeing if it was in this area," Gilmore said.
They are the first to qualify for Nationals from Waco rowing's youth group.
"Rowing, you know, traditionally is a West Coast, East Coast sport, a little bit in the Midwest. It's actually the oldest NCAA sport, so there's a lot of history to it. So it's big in a few ways. One, getting this region represented," head coach Michael Scheuritzel said.
Not only will their coaches be there at Nationals — their families will also see them compete.
"My brother hasn't seen me row or race, so I'll be able to have him there to see it, and then I'll have both of our families cheering us on together," Gilmore said.
"My mom is traveling with me to go cheer me on. She's very involved in like the rowing organization, she does our social media and she's just awesome. She's my number one friend, cheerleader and all that, and I'm really happy that she's going with me," Roman said.
Nationals is set for June 11-14 in Sarasota.
