Buffalo rowers head to World Championship trials

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Olympic fever is quickly coming up for summer sports fans but there are some even younger athletes paving their road to the games in 2028. Head coach R.J. Rubino and company at Row Buffalo have some of the most talented athletes on the water in the 716, but how about the world?

“It will be the third consecutive year if we have success at these trials that we send crews from Buffalo to the U.S. national team,” said Rubino. “We will be one of only a handful of clubs across North America that can say that.”

Success — it’s one of the first words in the vocabulary at Row Buffalo. Rubino is heading up one last practice before scores of his rowers head to Windsor, New Jersey, to compete for a spot at the world finals.

“We’ve got guys that are returning world champs at the Under 23 level, taking their first stab at the senior level. We’ve got guys that have never yet raised that, underclass women who will give it their best shot this year and have full eligibility in the same event level next year,” he added. “So there’s definitely a broad range of expectations and goals here.”

The team includes some singles rowers like Will Tran.

“I was going to originally play baseball in high school, but that didn’t work out. So I got into rowing and really fell in love with it,” he said.

The Chicago native is looking to hoist the Row Buffalo flag at the top of his respective mountain by the end of the week.

“The team here is one of the most hyper-competitive teams I’ve ever been a part of and I’ve really enjoyed it,” Tran added. “I’m really just looking to go there and make a real big statement about who I am. And I’m here for the next two years and will be at the World Championships at one point.”

Across the way, taking their strides down the Buffalo waterways are Liam Feeney and Isaiah Aljuwani, who also row for a local high school program.

“I’d say the hardest part about this sport is the commitment and the showing up every day, every morning, putting in the work and just trying to succeed,” said Feeney.

All those long hours have made this pair some of the top rowers in the country already.

“It really does mean a lot. It can really attest to, you know, how many hours you put in, how many mornings, late nights on the water, off the water or excursions,” said Aljuwani. “Everything you do really leads up to it leads up to this.”

But the next hurdle is that world qualifiers, and down the road?

“Out of the senior national team, the Olympic squad is chosen,” Rubino noted. “So every year there’s a World Championship, every four years you have an Olympic Games. So to become a part of the junior or Under 23 or senior national team puts you in a great position within the national team system to someday become an Olympian.”