Sarasota Scullers rowing club starts 2017 with gold medal

The Sarasota Scullers’ first major event of 2017 didn’t take them very far, but brought a handful of medals back to Osprey. Coach Laura Brown set the tone for the entire event with her gold medal and two teams of her students pulled in medals of their own.

Brown began the Southern Sprints Indoor Rowing Championship on Saturday in Melbourne with a victory in the women’s masters 30-39 division. Later during the day at Florida Institute of Technology, Shelby Ernst won the high school lightweight novice division, another won silver in the high school women’s lightweight division and a relay team finished second in another high school race.

Ernst, a Fort Myers High School freshman, ran her race in 7:51 to take gold at an event which included more than 1,250 total rowers. Jessica Frisch, a Sarasota Military Academy junior, won the Scullers’ other individual medal with a time of 7:44.50 in the high school women’s lightweight.

“I was a little disappointed in my performance because it wasn’t a personal record,” Frisch said, “but I was super happy that I medaled.”

Ernst and Frisch also teamed up with Katie Beiler and Caitlin McCann to win a silver in the high school women’s relay, finishing with a time of 6:52.60. Eight other rowers logged top-10 finishes at the Southern Sprints. Twenty-six rowers set personal records, Brown said.

Ava Krug makes championship run in Naples tennis tournament

It’s been a successful winter for the Krug family already. Connor and Jake performed well as a doubles tandem last month and both have found success in singles, as well. Ava Krug can add her own performance to the list now after finishing second at the Academia Sanchez-Casal Level 3 tournament in Naples.

Krug, who is the granddaughter of ESPN announcer Dick Vitale, was the No. 2 seed in the event and picked up wins against No. 4 seed Clervie Ngounoue and No. 8 seed Natalie Block on her way to the 12s final. Krug, who is the No. 4-ranked player in the Class of 2024 by TennisRecruiting.net, ultimately fell to top seed Alexis Blokhina, who is the No. 39 player in the Class of 2022, 6-3, 6-4, on Jan. 23.

Krug and Blokhina also teamed up in doubles to win the championship, topping the No. 2 team of Block and Morgan McCarthy, 7-6, at Academia Sanchez-Casal Florida.

Krug, who attends Out-of-Door Academy with the rest of the Krug family, is regarded as the No. 1 player in her age group in Florida. She has a career record of 58-33, according to TennisRecruiting.

Sarasota Half Marathon announces return for 12th straight year

The longest running half marathon in Sarasota will return March 29. The First Watch Sarasota Half Marathon is back for a 12th straight year to raise money for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

The 13.1-mile course begins at Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall, crosses the John Ringling Causeway to loop through St. Armand’s Key and come back past the start. The second half of the race goes up U.S. 41 to John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, and back down to Van Wezel Hall. Runners can participate in relay teams, which split the course as it loops back past Van Wezel for the first time.

The race has attracted 3,000 runners in past years with nearly 90 percent coming from outside the area. Temple University’s Sport Industry Research Center in Philadelphia estimated last year’s run generated nearly $3.5 million for the local economy.

This story was originally published January 30, 2017 at 6:56 PM with the headline "Sarasota Scullers rowing club starts 2017 with gold medal."