Paley and Baker-Espegren's runner-up finish headlines record nine-boat trip to Sarasota championships

Simon Paley and Beckett Baker-Espegren brought home a silver medal in the men's varsity double at the 2026 US Rowing Youth National Championships on Sunday, June 14, at Nathan Benderson Park in Sarasota. It was the club's top finish at this year's nationals.

The second-place result headlined a breakout performance for Miami Beach Rowing Club, which sent nine boats across five men's and four women's events. That's the most boats and athletes the program has ever qualified for the national championship, according to the club's season recap published Thursday, July 2.

The results capped a 2025-2026 season the club called its best ever. Miami Beach Rowing Club won the US Rowing Southeast Region Sculling Points Championship in both 2025 and 2026, claiming back-to-back regional titles after qualifying through the Southeast Youth Championships in Sarasota.

Three crews crack top 15 at nationals

Beyond the silver, several Miami Beach crews posted top-15 finishes at nationals:

• Women's Youth U16 4x+ (Sara Steen, Bianca Dupoyet, Aya Charafeddine, Isabella Berthier, Mila Levenson): third in B Final, 11th overall.
• Men's Youth U17 2X (Edgar Leduc, Zachary Fernandez): fourth in B Final, 12th overall.
• Men's Youth V4X (Zurabi Karas, Filip Milosavljevic, Aiden Henderson, Zyon Pereira): seventh in B Final, 15th overall.

Remaining crews round out record nine-boat contingent

The Women's Youth 2nd V4X A crew of Claire Mayer, Sara Moncarz, Maia Paulson and Daniela Stipo finished seventh overall. The Men's Youth 2nd V4X A crew (Vander Lee, Nicholas Sodhi, Maksim Kravchuk, Andres Borges) placed 16th overall, while the Men's Youth 2nd V4X B crew (Kyle Matos, Ariel Hormann, Peter Sleeper, Juan Dalceggio) finished 19th. The Women's Youth V4X crew (Megan Kaplan, Magdalena Matovic, Chiara Steen, Victoria Montana) and the Women's Youth 2nd V4X B crew (Giselle Samuels, Zoe Grondin, Sasha Dotsenko, Zoe Lyons) each placed 20th overall.