Bainbridge High School Class of 2015 graduate and Bainbridge Island Rowing vet Samantha Dore recently capped four years of rowing at Stanford University by earning a gold medal on June 2 at the Intercollegiate Rowing Association National Championship Regatta.
It was the fourth national championship gold medal for Dore, who is captain of the Stanford Lightweight Women’s Rowing Team.
She rowed in the 7 seat of the Varsity 8 in the championship race, held at Lake Natoma in Rancho Cordova, California. The Varsity 8 clinched the first-place win with a time of 6:32.825, five-tenths of a second ahead of second-place Princeton (6:37.335).
Stanford’s Lightweight team also went on to win the overall points total for the fifth straight year.
Dore, who rowed all four years of high school with Bainbridge Island Rowing, also coached during the summer seasons for both Juniors and Masters BIR programs. While with BIR, she competed four times at Junior Youth National Championships, placing 10th, 18th, ninth, and sixth.
According to BIR officials, Dore said she is fortunate to have rowed with such a strong program. She will graduate this year with a major in political science and a minor in international relations. Her coursework has centered on elections and governance models, machine learning in politics, and security systems.
She reportedly has her sights set on attending law school.
Dore was not the only island rower to have recently gone on to success on a larger stage.
Five other graduates of Bainbridge High School competed at the NCAA Women’s National Rowing Championships: Amalie Millerd, Kayla Buchmeier, Carly Lant, Carly Millerd and Gemma Blazina.
The championship races wrapped up Sunday at Indianapolis Rowing Center at Eagle Creek Park in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Amalie Millerd is a member of the University of Iowa’s I Varsity Four.
A sophomore at Iowa, she also helped Iowa to a fourth-overall conference finish as a member of the team’s 1N8+ crew at the Big Ten Championship last month. Millerd rowed for four years with Bainbridge Island Rowing and was team captain in her senior year at Bainbridge High in 2017.
Her sister, Carly Millerd, is a senior at Iowa and has been on the college’s rowing team since 2015. She was also a captain on the rowing team during her senior year at BHS.
Buchmeier rows for Gonzaga University, which finished in 20th place at the NCAA Championships. A senior, she is on the Bulldogs’ Varsity 8 crew, which finished in third place with a season-best time of 6:45.029.
Lant rows in the bow position for Western Washington University’s Varsity 8+. This year, the Vikings women’s rowing team placed third at the 2019 NCAA Division II Rowing Championships.
Blazina is a rower on the 2V8 boat for Wesleyan University, which finished fourth overall as a team at the championships — the best finish in the program’s history.
