Woodbridge Crew has been promoting the challenging and rewarding sport of rowing since 1981. Our team members are some of the best athletes and scholars to be found in Virginia.  Woodbridge was the first Crew Program in Prince William County. 

In 1981 there were only five other high schools; Fort Hunt, J.E.B. Stuart, T.C. Williams, Washington-Lee, and Yorktown that were competing in the area. 

 

 In 1982 the Men’s Novice (5th) Eight became the first Woodbridge Boat to win a race at the Virginia Championships (NOVAs) and the Men’s JV 8 placed 2nd at NOVA’s, and 8th at Stotesbury. 

On April 6, 1984 the Woodbridge Men’s Varsity eight became the first Woodbridge boat ever to earn a 1st Place Medal in a Regatta, doing so at the T.C. Williams invitational. (Rowers: Stroke Chris Anderson, Ken Kopka, Darral Swift, Derrick Nenniman, Jimmy Pierce, Ron Rodgers, Agusto Osrio, John Celata, Cocswain Elaine Gracey). This boat left a winning legacy for Woodbridge in the programs fourth season. This boat later finished 6th at Nationals. Jimmy Pierce, an oarsman on this boat went on to row at MIT in college and was four-time rower (1989 – 1992) on the U.S. National Team.

In 1987 Woodbridge Crew moved into its new home, Oxford Boathouse, on the Prince William County shore of the Occoquan River with two other Prince William County rowing programs, Potomac and Gar-Field.  Our boathouse is located just a couple of miles from the school in Lake Ridge Park on the Occoquan Reservoir. Up to that time, rowers were shuttled across the Occoquan River to the Fairfax County shore at the Sandy Run rowing facility. 

 The crew program continued to grow into the 1990s, often supporting more than 100 rowers.  The quality of our program matches its size. 

 In 1998, our Women’s Lightweight Eight led by Coach Angela Hart went undefeated with wins at NOVAs (our state championship), Stotesbury, and Nationals and our Men’s Varsity 8 won NOVAs becoming the men’s crew state champions. 

 In ’99, our Women’s Lightweight Eight, Men’s Varsity Eight and Men’s Second Eight all won silver at NOVAs and the Men’s Quad won bronze at Nationals. 

 In 2000, our Women’s Quad won gold at the state championships, the Men’s Varsity Eight took bronze and Women’s Lightweight Eight were 4th in the nation at SRA Nationals. 

In the summer of 2004, one of our alums, Matt Smith, rowed for the U.S. Olympic Team in Athens, Greece, and placed ninth.

Above: 1996 Woodbridge alum, CPT Matt Smith, rowed for Team USA in the Athens Olympics in 2004 as part of the military’s World Class Athlete Program.

Overall, seven Woodbridge rowers have competed for the U.S. National Team at the highest levels of international competition.  At least one Woodbridge alum has been on 13 of the past 18 U.S. National Teams, including two members in 2006.

In the 2006 SRA Nationals, our Women’s Double placed 2nd, our Women’s Senior Four placed 4th and our Men’s Junior Quad placed 6th. 

Over the years, a number of our rowers and coxswains have been honored by being awarded the Washington Post’s prestigious “All Met” award for the top high school athletes from across our region.

In 2010 the Men’s LtWt8 led a successful season for Woodbridge as they not only captured bronze medals at Stotesbury, but brought home bronze medals from Nationals as well.

Since 2010, our rowers have earned:

• A national championship
• 2 national silver medal finishes
• 14 Virginia state championships
• 8 Virginia state silver medal finishes
• 5 Virginia state bronze medal finishes
• Medals from the prestegious Stotesbury Cup Regatta

Throughout our history, our rowers have been trained by a group of talented coaches that have won various “Coach of the Year” awards including recognition in 2006. 

ABOVE: Woodbridge Crew’s 2018 Virginia State Champion Men’s 2V team, one of three state championship teams from 2018.

Since 2000, many of our alumni have gone on to participate in collegiate Division I, DII and DIII crew programs.  Our students have rowed for MIT, Clemson, U.S. Naval Academy, U.S. Military Academy, University of Virginia, University of Tennessee, Boston University, Bucknell, Cornell University, Drexel, George Mason University, Jacksonville University, Ohio State, Ohio University, Princeton, Rutgers, San Diego State, Syracuse, William & Mary, Mary Washington, University of Wisconsin, West Virginia, University of Delaware, Virginia Tech, Cornell and others. 

We invite college crew coaches to contact us for more information on our current crop of outstanding athletes.